Hey guys! So this is the last chapter for this story! I was originally going to do this as two separate chapters, but while writing it I just grew to enjoy it as one all-together. Since this is the final chapter of the story, it only felt right for it to be the longest chapter of the story. So the chapter is ending at 2,435 words.
I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported this story from the beginning through the little hiatus and finally to the finish. I understand that it was a bit of a ride to say the least, but I am so honored that you chose to support this story for so long.
Thank you to everyone who joined this little journey and I will see you all in our next story!
S.S.S.
Jace POV
"Max, listen to me carefully" I say while kneeling down to be his height, "Where is the last place you saw Clary?"
He looks around at all of us and starts to shake his head before meeting the eyes of the other kids. All four of them are nodding to him, as if to say that he needs to tell us. Whatever happened out there, it cost everyone in this room something.
"The only way would be for me to take you there. I don't know if the place had a name, but I can remember the details so we could get there through portal." He tells us.
"Alec" I say, turning towards him while keeping a hand on Max's shoulder, "come with us. We'll be able to find her quicker." Alec nods and I pull out my stele, preparing to draw the portal.
I make the first marking on the wall and – "Clary!" I turn towards Maryse.
"What?" I ask, "What about her?"
"I saw her that day she left. She was covered in blood, there was enough that she left bloody foot prints on the floor. I remember asking her what happened, but she attacked. I don't know what happened after." Maryse says just as clave members arrive.
"Funny, Mrs. Lightwood. Our men said that the same thing happened to them. Except before she put them unconscious, she said that her name was Amatis. We knew of her mission, so she had no reason to go after us." Brother Peter says.
I look to Alec before finishing the portal. I grab one of Max's hands and Alec grabs the other before we jump through. For a moment, it feels like we're flying before the feeling flees and our feet hit the ground – Max only staying straight because Alec held him. Looking around, it doesn't seem like anywhere I had seen before. There were woods behind us that didn't seem to lead anywhere and in front of us was a stream that lead to a cliff, maybe a waterfall.
"JACE!" Alec yells out and I turn to see him covering Max's eyes. I run over and stumble a little at the sight of Jordan lying there on the ground with a knife in his neck. Lying next to him is the girl from the Los Angeles Institute with a hole in her head.
"Jordan. Sara. Do you think Clary took them out?" I ask, afraid of the answer.
"Clary took out Jordan" Max interrupts, gaining the attention of both of us. "I saw that. We were in hiding and Jordan held a knife to her throat. She got out of his hold and pulled that out of her belt. That was her last dagger. She told him that she didn't want to fight, but she would kill him if that was the only way for her to get us out safely. If Clary killed the girl then she did so out of self-defense. That's the only way."
We walk away from the bodies, refusing to acknowledge the traitors currently lying on the ground. They would be dealt with after we find Clary and get her home. I look to Alec and signal to the woods, he and Max would walk along the border and call out her name. I'm looking in the stream and over the cliff. Reaching the end of the stream, I look in the water to try to spot any sign of her. The water is clear like a sky on a cloudless day – this I was thankful for as I didn't have to stick my hand in. I walked along the edge of the stream, but eventually make my way to the other end with no sign of Clary. I follow the water with my eyes and they widen as they go over the sharp rocks sticking out of the waterfall. I run my eyes over the pool of water at the bottom and then over the ground that connects to the pool. I notice a lump on the ground, but am unable to tell what it is from this distance.
"Alec down here!" I yell out before jumping down.
Maryse POV
"Mrs. Lightwood, is that all you can remember from that day?" Brother Peter asks again.
"Look, I have told you everything that I know. My memories are coming back slowly, just give me time and space. That's all I ask for." I say before standing up and going over to Isabelle. "Where are our new members? I remember that we had some new people joining our institute"
"Well the one named Zach is dead. The other two, Samara and Ryan are upstairs, but I don't know what they're doing."
"Um, Isabelle the new members of our institute…their names aren't Samara and Ryan. There was no Zachary meant to come here. There were only two people meant to come here, both were female, and there was no Samara."
She and I locked eyes for a moment before running up the stairs. Isabelle kicks the door down and both of them look to us with wide eyes. Something in their eyes tells us that they know why we're here and one opens their mouth to talk, but Izzy hisses at them.
"Down stairs. Now." I say as they both stand and start walking. We follow them downstairs and just as our feet hit the ground a portal opens, my sons stepping through it, Jace with Clary unconscious in his hands. She's covered in blood, but whose I have no clue. Jace's clothes are covered in blood and Alec has some on him too, but Clary is the worst off.
"Take her upstairs. Maggie's up there with the children." I say and he and Max take off.
"Alec, is everything okay?" I ask as he takes a few steps forwards and sends Ryan flying. He looks towards Samara and she starts crying – apologizing for what she did.
"What did you do Samara?" I ask, but Alec interrupts.
"You poisoned her. I don't know how you did it, but you did. We found a video of her screaming at someone to leave her alone. Yelling that the other person doesn't exist. Then she changes into something else and says that Jocelyn must die. What. Did. You. Poison. Her. With?" he says slowly and dangerously.
"Look" Samara starts, "We were told that we would get paid big if we killed her or got her to kill herself. I thought we could poison her enough to do it herself, but we never saw any side effects. I guess we didn't give it enough time or something"
"What. Poison. Did. You. Use?!" Alec starts yelling.
"Faebane."
I put my hands over my mouth and watch as a few of the Clave members pick the two of them up. One of the Clave members starts to make the portal, but I have to ask them.
"Who? Who hired you to kill her?" I ask the two currently standing with cuffs on their hands. They shake their heads to say that they won't tell me so one of the members holding them 'accidentally' hit them in the head.
Ryan met my gaze. "Lucien and Jocelyn Morgenstern. They were planning to have their own child and saw Clarissa to be someone that was just in the way. We needed the money and didn't have a problem killing someone we didn't know."
Alec POV
"She's gonna be fine Jace. This is Clary. She's too stubborn to die." I say in an attempt to calm him down. I can hear someone coming up the stairs and turn to see my mom and Iz.
"What's the word on her condition?" My mom asks and we shake our heads.
"Maggie took her in and kicked us out. Hasn't let anyone help. He hasn't popped out to tell us anything either. Anything happen on your end?"
"Turns out Jocelyn and Luke were the two who put out the hit on her. Apparently they want to have their own little one and Clary was in the way somehow. They said that they didn't have a problem killing someone they don't know."
"How long were they poisoning her?" Jace asks and we all look to my mom.
"I didn't ask. I asked who and then let the Clave take them. The Clave will question them to figure everything else out, but I needed to be here with you guys. Clary will need all the support she can get and when she is well enough to talk then we can ask out questions."
The door opens a minute later and Maggie pops out. He looks at Jace immediately and only looks to the rest of us after a minute.
"How is she Magnus?" my mom asks and he sighs a little too long and loud for comfort.
"Clarissa has a lot of wounds. Some bruises, some cuts, but her worst one is internal. She has a concussion and is currently in a coma. Her right shoulder has been shattered. There are no full bones in there; just pieces. She still has a good amount of poison running through her veins. She's lost a lot of blood and I don't know if she's going to wake from this."
"What do you mean her worst wound in internal Maggie?" Jace asks and Magnus sighs again.
"Clarissa was pregnant, but the stress of the mission caused her to miscarry."
Jace POV
Pregnant. My girl was pregnant and I let her go into this mission that I didn't know about. I should have known something was wrong long before we got to this point.
"That explains why she was throwing up when I got there" Alec says, grabbing our attention like a moth to a flame.
"What are you talking about Alec?" I say.
"When I got to that Institute, I found her in the bathroom throwing up. I probably would've come to the conclusion of her being pregnant, but…FUCK! She tried to tell me!"
"She told you and you let her go through with the mission! Are you insane!?" Maryse yells, but Alec puts his hand out in a way to stop her.
"No. She didn't full on tell me, but she tried to. I asked if she was sick because she was throwing up, but she said no. Said that there were foods she just couldn't stand the smell of. They made her nauseous and she usually avoided them. I didn't think she could've been pregnant."
I can't really hear anything, but I can feel my knees suddenly meeting the ground. I can't focus on anything other than the fact that she was pregnant and I wasn't there to protect her. I can feel something pulling at my hair and my sight is going blurry quickly, but I can't find it in myself to care. Maryse's face appears in front of me and she pulls me into a hug, but I don't reciprocate it. I can't.
"There's more" Magnus interrupts, "With Clarissa's current condition, it is my opinion that the most humane thing we can do for her is put her down. She will be in a lot of pain when she wakes – if she wakes – and she doesn't deserve to be in that place."
"Wait, they said they used faebane. Could we save her if we got the poison out of her system? Stop her bleeding and get the poison out?" Maryse interrupts, but Maggie just shakes his head.
"We have not found an antidote for faebane yet. She is in such a vulnerable state that if we were to try anything on her it could kill her. As per the idea of stopping her bleeding, he wounds have clotted. However, she's lost so much blood that she should have died where she was found." Maggie states and sends us all into hysterics.
"Jace" Maggie says and I look at him through glazed eyes, "She was your girl. Every other family member she had has turned on her. It is your choice, but we need to be humane to her. She is going to be suffering to months – maybe years – and she doesn't deserve that. I say to put her down, but it is your call."
I try to speak, but it just comes out as a cry. I stand and push past him, running to the bed where she is covered in enough bandages to be a mummy. I want to touch her, but it's just going to hurt her.
'We need to put her down.', 'She's just gonna suffer', 'it's your call'
I don't want to lose her, but she's already gone. I put my head down by hers and lightly kiss her head, able to feel the unconscious flinch by her. I mutter to her that I love her and that I'm sorry.
Then slide the knife into her head.
Her brain.
She can't suffer anymore, but she also can't live anymore. I look at her body and she is no longer breathing. She's in a better place now, that's all I can believe at this point.
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