Me: Please grant me a round of applause because not only did I write this and more in less than a day, but this is an idea that I have had and this is me following through with it (this never happens- I seem to never be able to write the ideas I plan out). Truly an amazing work is being preformed here.

I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! I promise!

Pokemon67 is sorry for any grammatical errors you may come across.

Prologue

It was cold in Hell.

The blackness in front of him was never ending, never changing. This was his eternity. Eternally cold, empty, and lonely. Never would there be anything else, or anyone else. Forever and always it would be him and this black cavern. The only thing echoing in it would be his memories of a life that could have been. A life he could have had had he made different choices.

And then, all of a sudden, he was rising upward.

Up, faster and faster like a ballon. The coldness of the cavern stabbed at him as he rose, causing a pressure in his head. He gasped for breath, unable to catch it as he went faster and faster. Within in the blink of an eye, he suddenly could see. Blurry, far away images in from of him. Was that light? Wait, the cold… Water?

He didn't stop rising until he came bursting out of a lake. He tumbled onto the sand, coughing up the water that had gotten into his lungs. As he glanced behind him, he recognized the lake and began couching more vigorously. Lake Lyn.

His heart pounded faster than normal. Partly from confusion and partly, he suspected, because he had forgotten the sensation of a beating heart. He got to his knees slowly, his head spinning. It should be impossible that the lake was Lake Lyn, but if it was he was in terrible trouble. Just as he was about to stick his fingers down his throat so as to get rid of the rest of the water he swallowed, a voice spoke from behind him.

''Don't worry about the water,'' the voice said. ''The Angels gave us protection against it.''

His ears pricked at the voice. It sounded familiar. Not wanting to give the person the satisfaction of knowing how unsettled he was, he turned slowly, doing his best to give an expression of mild amusement.

His mental picture of the person was off only slightly, no doubt due to not having seen the person in so long. It was a boy of a small, light build. His brown hair was wet and stuck to his face and his glasses, which were askew on his nose. Also they were covered with water spots. The boy appeared younger than he was actually, which was ten. Or maybe eleven now.

Max Lightwood cocked his head to the side, smiling down with all the childish glee of someone who knows they have the best of someone else. A fitting glance for a murder victim to have for their murderer. ''Hello.''

''Hello.''

''The Angels asked a favor of me,'' Max went on, his characteristic seriousness back. He still looked annoyingly smug. ''I asked for help and they let me take you.''

''Why?''

''Because this is your chance for the thing you want most. You are the only one in all of the afterlife who will be willing to do whatever it takes to get it. And this is your chance.''

A laugh escaped him. ''I am not doing anything for anyone, especially not the Angels. There is nothing they can give me.''

Max deliberated. ''The Angels aren't giving you it actually. Just the chance for you to get it yourself.''

''Something I'll do anything for? And here I thought they didn't like my idea of world domination.''

''It's not that.''

''Then what? What do you and the Angels think I want more than anything? That I will do anything for?''

Max looked surprised. He answered very plainly and simply. ''Redemption.''

…..

Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day in Idris. The sun shone, the birds sang- perfect on a mission for Heaven weather.

''What's the job?'' Jonathon asked as they trudged away from the lake, in the direction of the woods. He tugged uncomfortably at his wet clothes. White shirt and dress pants. Same clothes he had died in. Morbid for Angels, he thought. But as least they were nice enough to get rid of the nasty blood stains and big hole.

''Just retrieving a Heavenly Item,'' Max answered carelessly. He swung his arms back and forth, clearly delighting in the warm daylight. While the Angels had recycled with Jonathon's clothes, they has seen fit to outfit Max in a simple black long sleeved shirt and black pants, the standard clothes a Shadowhunter would wear under their gear.

''What kind of item?''

''Someone's sword.'' Max grabbed a flower and began picking at the petals, humming to himself.

Jonathon sighed in a annoyance. ''Oh, God, stop.'' he exclaimed. ''Don't do that.''

''Do what?''

''Don't be one of those 'I'm so happy to be alive' types. It's annoying.''

''Excuse me,'' Max huffed. ''Sorry for being happy I'm not dead.''

''Apology accepted.'' Jonathan nodded gracefully. ''Why are we not dead?''

Max rolled his eyes, tossing his flower aside. ''Because I volunteered for this mission and asked to bring you with me.''

''Why?''

''Think of me as your…'' Max gestured, trying to think of a phrasing. ''Ghost of Christmas Present.''

Jonathon laughed. ''Bullshit.''

''Language.'' Max wagged his finger at him.

''Why did you pick me to come with you?''

''Can't you believe that maybe I wanted to give you a second chance?''

''No.''

Max shrugged. ''Fair enough.''

''What's to stop me from walking away. Ditching you and this mission?''

''You really want to find out? Miss Hell already?'' Jonathon visibly flinched. Max looked apologetic. ''Look, think what you want. The fact is I picked you because I wanted your skills. Now, I don't know for sure, but I think the only reason the Angels let you come with me is because they know that you want to atone for the things you did. And a way for you to do that is by helping me, which will also be helping Heaven.'' Max spread his hands in conclusion. ''Thus, atonement.

Jonathon was skeptical. ''So, what happens after this little mission? Do we stay alive or get 99 other tasks?''

Max looked away, bitting his lip. ''I don't know.''

''You're lying.''

''Let's see how this task goes and take it from there, okay Hercules?'' Before Jonathon could ask another question, Max ran ahead a few steps. ''Here we are!''

Jonathon didn't change his pace and made Max wait until he caught up. They were standing at the base of a mountain, Max leaning in front of a large chunk of rock. ''Where is here?''

Max didn't answer. He pulled a stele that Jonathon hadn't noticed from his belt. Clearly, on top of the outfit change, the Angels also saw fit to give Max weapons. ''What are you doing?''

''Portal,'' Max said simply. ''Angels taught me how.'' In a second, there was shimmering doorway in the wall of rock. ''Ready?''

Jonathon eyed him skeptically. There were a thousand blanks he wanted filled in, but Max had been right about one thing; he didn't want to go back to Hell.

He smiled widely, the smile that made people uneasy around him, reminding them he had demon blood in his veins. It had the desired effect. Max couldn't meet his gaze. ''Who am I to disrespect Heaven's orders?''

…

The portal had taken the somewhere Jonathon did know, which he found unsettling. He had pretty much been just about everywhere at one point or another in his life, so to have no clue as to where Max and he were headed made him very uneasy. Of course, he also thought he should've know if there were any rumors about a rogue Heavenly weapon laying around on Earth.

It was a run down village they had spent hours wandering around. Max seemed to have an idea of where they were and where they were heading, but he didn't offer any explanation to Jonathon, and Jonathon was above begging. So instead he settled for annoying the younger boy.

''Well, we must be somewhere in Europe. People are speaking English primarily. Unless of course this is like Star Trek.''

''Star Trek?''

''Affirmative, Mr. Chekov. You know, the show where humans travel thousands of light years into space and everyone speaks the same language and only those unluckily clothed in shades of red die?'' He picked at Max's shirt. ''Red would go lovely with your complexion.''

Max had simply shrugged him off and continued leading the way.

He never rose to the bait, Jonathon noticed. No matter the comments Jonathon made (and he made plenty) about the surroundings, about Heaven, about Max's family, Max never got mad. He showed restraint yes, but there was something about his manner Jonathan couldn't quite put his finger on.

Of course, he had never been the best at identifying emotions. His father had given him some tools in his youth on how to help him with that- a ring that glowed when someone was scared, a necklace that vibrated when someone was angry. Jonathon had done his best to never get in a situation where he was dependent on reading people. But he had no other way to get information out of Max Lightwood.

Hours later, they were laying on the ground in the woods a few miles away from the town. The day had been spent with Max exchanging words with shady looking people, whom he always spoke with aways away from Jonathon. Jonathan couldn't catch their conversations, and they always ended before he had a chance to approach and eavesdrop. At the third such conversation, he realizes he was scared.

''You really want to find out? Miss Hell already?'' Max's earlier phrase rang in his ears. Jonathon didn't want to go back. He was scared of stepping out of line, of doing something that would cause the Angels to smite him down and throw him back into that black pit.

If he had to guess (which he did) was that Max was getting a location. A location where presumably the Heavenly Sword was being kept. But why such secrecy? Why the strange location? And the suspensions people? Max said he wanted him for his skills. Would he had to fight for the sword? Were other people after it? But then why hadn't he been given weapons? Why had Max been told to made the portal?

They don't want me to know where we are going, Jonathon realized. And they don't want me to fight when I find out. But then what skills did Max want from him?

Jonathon gazed over at the boy, who was sleeping on the opposite side of the camp fire he had made. During the running around town, Max had bought some blankets and food. The food they had eaten and the blankets they were now laying on. The Angels had given him money too. Strangely, Max only brought enough food for one night.

Either we are going somewhere else tomorrow, or one of us isn't going to be around tomorrow.

But another curios thing picked at Jonathon's mind. Why would Max volunteer for a Heavenly mission?

Because he wanted to be brought back to life? Okay, sure. But that begged the question why the Angels wanted Max brought back to life. A question Jonathon couldn't fathom the answer to.

Jonathon's head pounded from exhaustion, and his wonderings weren't helping him. He closed his eyes, not bothering to worry about tomorrow. He had learned long ago worrying about the future didn't change it.

Me: Do you like it? Are you interested in what happens next? Are you wishing for a time machine to take you back to the moment you decided to click on this and convince your past self not to waste the time? If you can, please leave a review and let me know!

See you soon with Chapter 2!

Happy Writing!