The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices Crossover

ACT II

Chapter 18 : Weakness Makes Us Human

Author's Note:

If you haven't read The Mortal Instruments (City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels and City of Lost Souls) as well as The Infernal Devices Trilogy(Clockwork Angel, Clockwork Prince and Clockwork Princess), all by Cassandra Clare, I advice you not to read this. Be spoilt at your own risk.

Experimenting with perspectives here.

Read and you'll see what I mean.

Enjoy reading, Loves!

Alec's skin was fair even under the lamplight of the Great Library. Will was never used to the fluorescents that fail to mimic the bright morning skies. A copy of the Tale of Two Cities was lying on the table where Tessa often sat. It wasn't particularly the one he gave to her years ago, where he poured his heart out in longing and love. Perhaps anything that remained of their memories together had been too painful for her to remember, even after a hundred years. He never really did approach the desk nor had he ever bothered to open the lonely book that sat on top of it. He might lose his guard and ruin everything that he was meant to accomplish. Will was to be Alec Lightwood and no one else. "It seems pretty weird to find you in the library," scoffed a voice of a young woman that reminded him of a young girl that had been Cecily. While many have referenced Alec to Will's appearance primarily because of their dark hair and bright eyes, the resemblance of Isabelle and his sister was far more astounding. Despite the dark eyes and slightly tanned skin, the young woman in front of him could be mistaken as Cecily Herondale herself.

"I could be doing some research," he replied. He didn't want to break character, as Isabelle will always be the first to notice any changes in her brother. The moment one of them is suspicious, it will be harder to explain everything else. Will didn't want to make anything more twisted than it already was.

She snorted in reply. "Yeah, of course it's normal. I thought you never did any of that since Magnus." She might have expected a sudden jolt of hurt as she stared at whom she thought was her brother seconds longer than she would have. When he didn't reply, Isabelle walked towards the opposite couch and sat with her legs crossed. "Hey, I'm sorry. I keep forgetting."

Will chose to just shake his head as he was doubtful of what Isabelle would think if he's ever attempted to reply. Instead he sighed and tried making her forget about it. "I heard you were training Tessa now?"

Isabelle shrugged. "We take turns. Me and Jace. It would be nice if you'll help out, you know. We need as much as we can, for battle."

No matter how the thought of Tessa going into battle without much training had made him worry, he smiled lightly at her, a different kind of smile. One that Alec Lightwood is only capable of. Will still had Alec's memories at the back of his mind. He could still manage to take his cover despite the change of times and traditions among generations of Shadowhunters and the society in general. Isabelle in particular, though Will has never seen her wear anything other than dresses, was never the timid kind. She uses beauty as weapon like the powerful whip she wields at battle. "I should probably go to bed," Will said suddenly, not knowing exactly how to run the conversation with Isabelle.

"Is there something wrong?" she called out to him when he turned his back. "Is this about father?" Alec and Isabelle had watched their own father die in the middle of the battle in Cadair Idris. Will could almost hear Alec's voice speaking to him. There was no greater sadness than a child watching his father die, let alone the fact that there had been so many things left unresolved between them. Will, in the image of Alec, had watched Isabelle painfully holding back her tears as he father's cold body was consumed by the funeral pyre. The ashes weren't sent to the Bone City, as the Silent Brothers knew that Robert had the blood of the demonic Shadowhunter the moment he fell to his death.

He turned around and smiled up at her, the kind of smile one person would have done just to be polite. He didn't want to say anything, as he didn't feel the same gravity of grief inside him. "I'm fine. Just—tired." He said finally, as he stepped back and gracefully turned towards the library door, leaving a very worried Isabelle inside.

Tessa had been walking around Brooklyn at midnight. It was dark and silent, as the people in the houses and apartments have started to turn their lights out one by one. She walked up to Magnus's place. She had always remembered his home to be filled with light and energy as was its owner. She had always thought back of the grandest parties that he threw regularly, the place looking even more majestic than it already is. Right now, however, it looked dark and silent. Tessa pulled out the spare key that Magnus gave her. She insisted that she wished to have him by her side because she needed him, but in truth, she had just wanted to watch him and to see if he had been doing well. The warlock seemed to isolate himself lately, spending the whole day in his room. She walked inside his apartment. His belonging were strewn everywhere. It looked messier than it was before. Half of the walls were burnt and there was no sign of wallpaper anymore. The sudden memory of how Tessa found Magnus lying on the ground, hair tainted with dull silver crossed her mind. She quickly ran towards his bedroom door and pushed it open.

Magnus looked well and alive. Only that he was wearing a thin robe and he was barefoot, highlighting how light his hair had become. He seems to be watching the world from his window, a wide and sturdy glass that fit the size of the entire wall. He could see everything from there. "What brings you here, Tessa?" he asked, but he didn't face her. He was still leaning casually on his side. His arms seemed to be folded in boredom or indifference.

"I thought something happened to you." She said, taking a deep breath and releasing it in relief.

This time, he turned around to face her. His face looked blank without all the makeup, as he looked sad and grieving without the spikes in his hair. Magnus looked almost normal, only that the silver hair and irises gave him away. "That's flattering," he said, "knowing that you thought of me and walked all the way here to see if I'm starting to kill myself yet."

"Are you?" Tessa asked.

"No," he said, "I'm actually trying to do the opposite. No matter how pathetic that sounds." He walked up to the center of the once grand room and crashed on his bed. Tessa didn't know if it was out of frustration or tiredness. In the dimness of his room, he had almost looked like Jem—almond-shaped eyes and light hair. The black in his hair was now all gone, silver strands pointing in every direction. He looked like he had never left the place in days. She could see how he had lost some weight over the past few weeks, as his collarbone protruded from his thin satin bathroom robe.

Tessa knelt by his side, trying to look into his eyes as he was looking away from her. "Hey, we'll find something, you know that." She gingerly took his hand and encased it in hers. In his vulnerability, only Tessa was the one whom he freely shows it to entirely. The world may see him as someone who didn't care about anything at all, that he is neither hurt nor stirred, but to Tessa he was just another important person to look after in her life—fragile and always in need of help. "It sounds impossible but there are more things. An angel had lent us the blade of Heaven, Glorious. More will come soon if we hope."

"Hope is what Jem Carstairs had when he was suffering like so, didn't he?" Magnus replied, more pessimistic than insulting.

She looked at him thoughtfully. It had been so many things piling up into one incredibly irreversible situation that had affected Magnus greatly. She gently brushed his fair hair away from his tired eyes and tried to think about what else she would ever say to him. He had the words to comfort her in her grief years ago, it felt unfair as the guilt of not knowing how to make him feel better was troubling her. "Magnus, I—" she said, trying to contain the guilt and pity that had been consuming her at the very moment. "I honestly don't know what to do or what to tell you. I'm sorry about all this. I know I am the reason why you suffer greatly and I should be responsible to everything. I should be the one in your place if it had to be."

"If there's any need to apologize, I would have forced you to ask me that way before then." He said as he looked blankly towards another burnt wall. "I'm sorry for Lucie too, Tessa. I would have done something, anything at all."

"You were weak," she said. There was no time to lie about anything now. "It could have possibly sped up your illness if you even tried."

"By illness, you mean my lifespan?" he said.

Tessa was astounded, suddenly not knowing what to say. "You can't die trying to save my daughter even if I would have wanted that so badly." She said softly.

"Then that should have been my purpose," he said weakly, as he focused his attention towards her, his eyes brighter than ever. Suddenly, his sad expression changed into something more nonchalant, the way he usually is when he is with a person he considers a friend, but not necessarily a confidant."Anything I could get you? Tea, maybe?" Magnus had now put up his guard again. Tessa knew how he could be vulnerable one moment and turn back into his uncaring façade. As swift as he broke down, he was now back into his stern and casual ways. She didn't push the subject, knowing it will anger him in the end. Instead, asked for coffee and told him that she had wanted to spend the night in his apartment, for she was tired and it was late.

"If we were still in the eighteenth century," he said as he stood and helped her up. "I would have thought you'd be more scandalous than what you really are."

Tessa laughed and spent the night talking to him, comparing the past generations that they had witnessed become and wither. At the end of the night, as she had been inside the guest room he had prepared himself, she had realized that Magnus had never reminisced his past with other people before. He had almost been so mundane, not using the spells he lazily does whenever he wanted to fix anything in his home. When she had thought of it, he must have read her expression, as he said "Weakness makes us human, Tessa." His tone wasn't bitter nor hateful, only one that was tired, like from that very moment, Magnus had surrendered.

He was looking at him in the early hours of daylight. Most of New York had not been awake just yet. His form looked quite like him, but never the same exact features. "Goodness," Magnus muttered sleepily, "I take it that you don't know how to use a phone yet, William?"

"Just looking for Tessa," was all he replied. Alec may have sounded as worrisome as how Will was now, but there had been something else indeed. So distinct, that Magnus could easily tell whether it had been Will or Alec talking to him. "I wanted to speak to her."

"A bit clingy of a husband, aren't you?" Magnus said as he was barefoot outside his apartment, not minding the cold wind of the morning air. "The more you'll do that, the more they'll think Alec is actually falling in love with Tessa. Which in this case, the one they think is Alec."

"You'd be more scandalized if you hadn't known, I guess." He bluntly said. Magnus was still showing him a certain indifference to the topic, as he didn't want to give Will the satisfaction. It was almost like a hundred years ago, and yet he still sounded like he was seventeen. Magnus understood that Will was placed in a position that he had tortured himself with before. Tessa had been at his arm's reach, yet there was nothing he could possibly do to tell her that he longed for her again.

Still, Magnus knew that there were other things more important than personal wants, especially at times of a great conflict such as this—and Will knows that pretty well, too. "I will take care of her," he promised him. "If there is anything else, make it snappy. She's a morning person and gets up early. It won't be long before she wakes."

"I know," Will said bitterly. Even in Alec's voice, he was again tortured deep inside.

When I said perspective, I meant Tessa and how she sees the world.

All the other characters in the actual book don't have this certain point of similarity with Magnus Bane, so here's Tessa, someone he's known for such a long time. It helps in building the characters, you know.

And oh, if you don't like this depiction of Magnus, I don't know how I'll change it exactly. I like to think that somehow, no matter how secretive he is, he must trust someone enough. I guess he's like this to Ragnor Fell, but of course, he's dead.

Anyway, that's it for now. I'm still building the plotline, so that's why it's still a tad bit draggy in this chapter. See more changes soon.

I will upload a longer chapter if everything's in place. Be more patient with me? :)

Review and tell me anything else, loves!

-Lianne