The Final Chapter

"Max slow down!"

"It's a glass pyramid! A pyramid of glass!" Max sang.

Whose idea was it to unleash Max into Paris?

Despite Magnus insisting that he required rest, with a lot of pleading and the promise of cleaning his room for an entire month, Max got his wish. Seeing the Eiffel Tower without having to hide from demons was much more exciting, the boat trip down the river Seine was kind of boring until Max was given some cookies and despite the number of steps, The Sacre Coeur was probably his favourite site so far. Well…that was before he saw the glass pyramid.

"How did it get there? Why is there two? I need reasons," Max rambled on as he pushed his way through the crowd around the famous glass pyramid.

As he stared through the glass, he noticed that the pyramid wasn't meant to be the main attraction; through it his eyes marvelled at a grand piece of architecture that showed off shades of gold, bronze and light blue and stretched around him like royal arms. Institutes were always a beautiful site, but this was on another scale of awe-inspiring beauty. As he gazed up at the building, he felt Magnus's hands rest on his shoulders and heard a panting Clary run into her place by Alec's side.

"I could live here," Max sighed,

"I knew the woman that did," Magnus commented.

Both Max and Rafael looked up at their father in wonder and prepared themselves for the next story he was going to tell them while opening their juice boxes. His stories would always fascinate them- the flying carpets, the portals, the people and now the last queen of France- and they'd much rather listen to their Papa spill out memories than go to a museum.

When the tour of Paris unfortunately came to an end, they headed back to the Institute to pick up anything they had left behind and say their goodbyes to Esme and Theo. Max sat in the kitchen, munching on the crunchy, gooey, chocolatey macaroon that he was told not to eat and shaking his Eiffel Tower snow globe so that the snow could never settle, keeping the magical glittering scene alive for as long as possible. As he stared into the swirling snow, a flash of sinister smoke exuding from a large dark bulls-head with ghoulish glowing blue eyes and the sound of agonising shouting bombarded his mind and painful goosebumps covered his skin. What if he ended up like his demon father? He couldn't imagine becoming so ugly and monstrous, but surely it was in his blood.

"You okay, Blueberry?" Rafael asked as he sat next to his brother.

Instead of even making a noise in reply, Max exhaled heavily and watched his untied lases flail as his legs swung beneath him. He was hoping that Rafael would allow the silence to avail, yet as his brother stood directly in front of him with a stern look, a sickening feeling grew in his stomach.

"What's on your mind?" Rafael asked.

Confidence in speaking to his brother was something Max had never lacked before, but this was hard, almost too hard to let out. How do you talk to a child of an angel about what's going on in the mind of a child of a demon?

"Talk to me, Max," Rafe placed his hands on Max's lap and gripped his legs.

Max vigorously shook his head.

"Please,"

"I don't want to be a monster," tears erupted from Max's glistening blue eyes.

Rafael wrapped his arms around him, allowing his brother's tears to soak his t-shirt as he rubbed his back and reassured him that everything was going to be okay. The fear of become the thing he saw that night was more prominent than his fear of the dark and was one he didn't think he'd be able to shake off. Slowly, the waterfall of tears began to cease, and Max found it easier to breathe, yet he still clung onto Rafael's shirt as if letting go was a sin.

"What if I become a steamy blue evil monster and I try kill you and papa and dad and aunt Clary and everyone and dad will have to kill me because I'm really evil and I-I-I-," saying the nightmare made it too real for Max as more tears cascaded from his eyes.

Rafael pushed Max up, caught as many of his tears as possible and lovingly kissed his forehead.

"Eres Inocencia. Tu eres puro. Eres mi hermano," he spoke softly, "and I will never, ever allow that to happen to you. We will never let that happen."

Max fell back into Rafael's arms, burying his head into his now soggy shoulder and his tears of sadness and fear morphed into ones of joy and love. The words that were sung to him touched his heart and erased all the anguish and dread that was lingered inside.

"I love you, Maxi Moo," Rafael whispered,

"I love you, Rafe."

To end their adorable brother bonding moment, Alec yelled for the boys to come to the study where they would officially leave Paris. Max giggled as Rafael ran his hands through his hair and got to his feet. The moment they shared was one Max would never forget and would probably remind Rafael of as proof that he had said those all-important three words to him at least once.

"Let's go home," Max sniffled as he slid off the chair and took Rafael's hand, "Can we play game when we get back?"

They began to walk down the corridor merrily as if they lived in a world with no evil only good, no darkness only pure light, no demons only angels.

"Sure, but not hide and seek."