This is possibly my favorite of them all! Let me know your thoughts!
Note: When I say Max, I'm talking about the original Max Lightwood!
Simon woke up disoriented and confused. The last thing he remembered was walking home after a terribly long day with Clary. They'd been training in various ways, apparently Jace said that he needed to sharpen his new vampire and Daylighter abilities. Clary's idea of training, however, involved a lot of sitting in the park with his eyes closed and sharpening his hearing by telling her everything that was going on around them. This idea had apparently come to her when Simon had practically gotten himself killed on a mission when he hadn't heard a demon coming.
Now he was waking up in a place that he was fairly certain he'd never been before. He sat up carefully, trying to assess whether or not he was hurt before fully getting up. When he determined that he was fine, he sat up completely, and immediately became even more confused when he saw Raphael across the room from him. He had no idea where they were, some sort of bedroom, and he happened to be on the bed. Raphael was staring at him from where he was sitting on the floor, seemingly calm.
"What's going on?" Simon asked, trying to keep himself calm as well. Over the past few weeks, he and Raphael had been attempting to mend their relationship after their terribly rocky start. They'd decided that the Shadowhunters would take over most of Simon's training because of the simple fact that they could hardly train for ten minutes without some sort of an argument ensuing.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Raphael replied, looking away from Simon and toward the door. There were no windows in the room, and Simon couldn't figure out if that was to protect Raphael from the sun or to keep them from leaving. His best bet was that it was for both reasons, and he didn't need to try the door to know that it was locked.
Simon leaned back on the bed once more, inexplicably exhausted. He didn't know how long they sat in silence, but it was obvious that Raphael didn't want speak about whatever was going on. Before long, the door opened, revealing a man Simon had never seen before. "I bet you're wondering who I am," he said, directing the comment toward Simon.
Before the man could say anything else, Raphael spoke up, remaining on the floor. "He's Magnus's father. Asmodeus. A prince of hell." Raphael's voice was flat and emotionless, but Simon knew him well enough to know that he was hiding all of his emotions where no one could ever hope to find them. Simon didn't even begin to try to figure out what was going on in Raphael's mind.
Asmodeus simply threw a smile in Raphael's direction and moved to set two glasses of blood on the bedside table. "I just came to give the two of you dinner. You'd better keep up your strength, Raphael, you've got a lot of work to do for me tonight." With that, Asmodeus turned and left the room. Simon didn't hear a lock on the door latch, but he knew that it was sealed with magic.
"What are you doing for him?" Simon asked almost as soon as the door had closed. "Magnus refused to tell us who his father was, and I have the feeling that he had a very good reason for that. So why on earth would you ever do anything for someone like him? I know that sometimes your line between good and evil is a little skewed, but you certainly have to have a better set of morals than this."
Simon was going to say much more, but Raphael abruptly cut him off, his voice filled with the usual annoyance that indicated he was speaking to Simon. "Shut up for just a second, will you?" he asked, his voice so sharp that Simon had no choice but to stop talking. "I have no choice but to do exactly what he tells me to do. If you knew anything about Asmodeus, you would know that as well. I once paid a lot of money to find out a lot of things about that demon, and I do not care to find the truth of those facts."
For several moments, Simon considered the weight of this. Raphael was right that he had no idea what kind of a situation they were in. Before Simon could say anything else, Raphael spoke once more. "He told me he would kill you if I didn't do exactly what he asked of me." Raphael's voice sounded very far away.
Simon began speaking before he had the time to think about what was coming out of his mouth. "Why does that matter at all? You've never cared what happened to me. I'm sure Asmodeus killing me will be a much better option than whatever he wants you to do for him." Raphael wouldn't meet Simon's eyes, and Simon was at a complete loss as to figure out why that was.
No matter how much Simon talked, no matter how many questions he asked, Raphael refused to speak to him anymore. After several minutes of trying, Simon simply leaned back against the wall and began trying to figure out what he was going to do. Of course, he came up with absolutely nothing that he could use to get out of the situation before Asmodeus came back into the room.
"I guess it's time to tell you your assignment of the night, isn't it, Raphael?" Asmodeus's smile made Simon sick. He hated the sound of Asmodeus's voice, but Simon hated his smile even more so. When Raphael kept his eyes trained on the floor and his mouth shut, Asmodeus continued. "You're going to kill Max Lightwood."
The waiting was absolutely murderous for Simon. He'd been screaming at Raphael when he'd exited the room by Asmodeus's side, but that hadn't seemed to change anything. Simon wanted to go to sleep; he wanted to rest, but all he could think of was Max. The little boy had stolen his heart from the moment they'd begun talking about comics together. He didn't want to admit that Max was like the little brother he'd always wanted, that he was far more fond of Max than he felt he should be. They had spent several nights watching superhero movies that Max had never seen before, and each time, Simon couldn't help but wish that Max had had the chance to have a normal childhood.
Now all he could think of was the possibility that Raphael was going to kill Max and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He'd tried breaking down the door, he'd tried everything he could think of, but nothing had budged in the slightest. Simon couldn't figure out why Raphael had so willingly gone with Asmodeus. Of course, Raphael had often been slightly over the line, but he'd never before gone so far.
Simon jumped up as soon as the door opened to reveal Raphael and Max. He immediately took hold of Max and pulled him away from Raphael, squatting down to Max's level. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice frantic as he reached to straighten Max's glasses. "Did he hurt you?"
Max looked at Simon with a bit of a confused expression. "Yes and no, Simon. What's going on? I'm really scared and I want to go home." Simon was surprised when Max leaned forward and pushed himself into Simon's arms. He held Max like that for several moments before standing and pushing Max behind him, keeping hold of Max's hand as he did so.
"You're insane if you think I'm going to let you kill him," Simon said to Raphael, his heart breaking when he felt Max's grip on his hand tighten. "You'll have to kill us both, and then that will ruin everything, won't it? So don't think for a second that this plan of yours, whatever it might be, is going to work." Simon felt Max take a step toward him, obviously terrified.
"Simon, shut up, please," Raphael replied, cutting Simon off once again. "I am not going to kill that child, but I had to get out and away from Asmodeus, now didn't I? He had to think that I was going along with his plan if I had any hope of getting any sort of message to Magnus." That kept Simon's mouth shut because he was ashamed to admit that he'd thought the worst of Raphael.
"Simon?" Max's voice was very weak behind him. "What does Alec's boyfriend have to do with this?" Max seemed genuinely concerned, and Simon knew that it was because he and Magnus were also fairly close to each other and he was worried that Magnus might have turned on him too. Simon considered ignoring this, but he knew that Max would continue to ask him until he answered.
"Hopefully Magnus won't have much to do with this at all, Max," he said, his eyes still trained on Raphael. "I don't know what you think Magnus is going to do for us, but this is hopeless and you know it. All you've done is drag a kid into this." Simon resisted the urge to smile when he felt Max squeeze his hand in silent protestation over being call a kid.
Raphael sat down and refused to speak, insisting that Magnus was going to come and get them out of the situation. Max curled up in Simon's lap, terribly scared but unwilling to admit that. Simon forced himself to keep his eyes off of Raphael when Max asked him to tell him a story. Naturally, Simon ended up going with the plot of Star Wars, mostly because he knew that Max would have no idea what that was.
When the door opened, Max flinched further into Simon, but he sprung out of Simon's lap when he realized that Alec and Magnus were the ones there and not Asmodeus. "Alec!" he yelled, jumping into Alec's arms without an ounce of hesitation. "Oh thank god," Alec mumbled into Max's hair. Simon risked a glance at Raphael to see that there was an inexplicable smile on his face.
"What happened? How did you get in here?" Raphael asked Magnus the obvious questions. Magnus glanced at Max and Alec, the ghost of a smile playing across his face as well. The more Simon looked at the two brothers, the more he understood that he would have gladly given his life for Max, and the more that very thought scared him.
"My father was apparently testing you, Raphael," Magnus replied, risking a glance at Simon this time. "He was testing both of you. For the first time I've ever known, he wasn't ever intending to follow through with his word." Magnus paused reaching over to ruffle Max's hair. "And apparently both of you passed that test," he finished, clearly happy that things had turned out the way they had.
Naturally, Raphael immediately looked very angry. "What kind of a nut job does something like that?" he asked, his voice seething with rage. "I know he's a demon but what on earth was he thinking? I was very certain that I was going to have to die for these two." Simon had to look down at his feet to hide the smile on his face, but he was taken aback when Raphael continued speaking.
"And this idiot," he said, motion toward Simon with a gesture Simon couldn't possibly begin to decode. "Is far too oblivious to understand that I put us all in this unfortunate situation because when Asmodeus said he was going to kill Simon, the thought of that happening made me want to die again." Simon looked up when Raphael finished speaking, glancing behind Raphael to see a huge smile on Max's face.
When no one spoke in any way, it was Max who broke the silence. "I don't think it was very unfortunate," he said, looking between Simon and Raphael. "It made you finally admit your feelings for Simon." At that, Simon didn't attempt to hide his smile. "Though I have to admit that I thought you were really going to kill me for a while."
At that, Raphael chuckled and turned around toward Max. "If I'd so much as tried to pull a hair from your head, Simon would have had me on the ground before I could even think about reconsidering." Simon laughed and inclined his head when Max looked over at him. "No, Max, I think you're right," Raphael continued. "I think the situation would have been much more unfortunate for me if I hadn't told Simon I had no intentions of hurting you."
"I have an idea for a much less unfortunate situation," Max said, the smile on his face only widening. Raphael raised an eyebrow in question, clearly fighting the smile that was threatening him as well. "You, me, Simon, and superheroes," Max finished, causing even Alec to laugh. Simon couldn't keep the smile off of his face when Raphael actually admitted that he would love that. It was the only situation Simon wanted to think about at the moment, but the next thing he knew he had to do was find the next unfortunate situation that would force Raphael to actually admit more of what he was feeling.