Magnus rubbed his blood shot eyes and looked at the sleeping shadow hunter next to him. Alec's hair sat in a ruffled heap across his forehead and Magnus let his eyes glide over his body; up his toned back and over his well-developed arms. He knew he had to wake the poor boy up to get ready for the "meeting" if he could even call discussing their plan to get rid of Sebastian once and for all a "meeting". It was more like an ongoing argument that could only end in everyone feeling discouraged and more worried than ever for Clary and Jace's well-being.
Taking a deep breath he reached his hand across the bed and shook Alec's shoulder lightly. At first there was nothing then his eye cracked open a tiny bit revealing his brilliant blue eyes that made Magnus swoon. "Morning sleepy head." The warlock cooed. Alec groaned and Magnus was unsure as to whether that was from being woken up or the term of endearment. "I didn't let you sleep here so you could wake me up at the crack of dawn, the plan was to stay in bed remember, we discussed it yesterday?" Alec groaned and sat up running a hand through his already disastrous hair and made it stick up in every direction possible. "Oh sweety" Magnus teased resting his chin in his hand. Alec looked at him and flipped him off obviously not appreciating the condescending tone Magnus had chosen and threw the covers off of himself before getting out of bed and scouring the floor for his pants. "You know I never called a dress code, you could just wear that." Magnus said pointing at Alec's dark purple boxers making him blush a deep red. "Why not you go wake the other two up?" the dark haired boy asked tossing his dirty shirt at his boyfriend. "No, no, no I'm making breakfast, you're on roll call." Magnus said hurriedly, he was up and at the door before Alec could argue and shot him a quick wink before disappearing down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen.
Alec sighed and slung his scabbard over his shoulder, he was getting really tired of catching the two in compromising positions that he then had to burn out of his retinas. He stood uncomfortably outside of Jace's door debating whether or not to knock, and then decided against it in case they were sleeping. He crossed his fingers hoping they were both clothed or at least covered and pushed past the door into his parabatai's dimly lit room.
He covered his eyes but when there weren't any gasps of embarrassment or sounds that he wasn't wanting to hear he braved peeking over his hand. This was one of the few times in his life he thought Jace and Clary actually looked kind of cute. Jace was surprisingly the little spoon with his head tucked in Clary's shoulder. He was about to lean over and wake them up when he looked at Clary's face, her eyebrows were furrowed and he noticed the signs of exhaustion that he'd failed to notice earlier. There were dark circles under her eyes and she'd been gradually losing weight. Her cheeks were starting to look sunken in and her face was lacking its usual blush, Jace looked tired as well but nothing a good shower wouldn't fix.
He poked his parabatai in the shoulder and tried to disturb Clary as little as humanly possible. Jace twitched but kept his eyes shut tightly and just nestled further into Clary's shoulder. Alec sighed inwardly and gave Jace a good shove. Suddenly the blond was flying out of the sheets and on top of Alec pinning him painfully against the floor, there was a small dagger in his hand and Alec wondered where he'd gotten it from. The crazy in Jace's eyes disappeared when he noticed it was his parabatai below him, he climbed off of him with a goofy smile and helped him to his feet, still being quiet since somehow Clary had remained asleep. Jace had what Magnus told Alec was called a battle he seemed carefree and acted like nothing fazed him, his expression neutral and he would interject with a few witty comments throughout conversations. But his battle persona was when he was most serious. His eyes would light up in the heat of battle and he seemed calm, it was when he was most sure of himself and when Alec saw a mature man instead of the reckless teenager he was. Jace pressed his index finger against his lips motioning for Alec to keep quiet, they backed out of the room Jace grabbing pants and a shirt, tugging them on once they were outside of the room. They didn't say anything until they were halfway down the hallway and Jace was certain there was no chance of waking Clary.
"Magnus has a plan that he's ready to discuss." The older boy stated. Jace bit his lip and ran his hand through his hair pulling it in seven different directions. He looked like a disheveled mess as usual. "I don't want to." Alec stared at him. "Excuse me? You don't want to?" He watched his friends take in a deep breath and sigh. "Alec I know I have to talk to Magnus, but I don't want anything to happen. What if his plan puts us at more risk than we already are." Jace would be lying if he said Clary's dream wasn't sitting at the back of his mind nagging him and making him more nervous than before. "So what do you suggest? We just sit around do nothing?" Alec threw his hands in the air "fine you stay here, Magnus and I will find Sebastian and kill him ourselves, hell we may as well bring the vampire along." He cocked an eyebrow at Jace and crossed his arms over his chest. Jace gave the dark haired boy his best I'm annoyed face and threw his witch light at him. "Oh stop being so dramatic Alexander I never said I wouldn't talk to Magnus I just said I didn't want to." Alec glared at him, probably for using his full name but the blond merely pushed past him and walked towards the library where he assumed the warlock would be.
Magnus spun in a quick circle as Jace shoved through the door into the library, his eyes surrounded by shadows from lack of sleep. "What's your plan?" Jace asked sounding exasperated and throwing himself into an armchair. Magnus quirked an eyebrow at him but said nothing. Always like a Herondale to take the weight of the world on their shoulders but act like they couldn't care less. "Is Clary joining us?" The warlock asked. Jace waved his hand absently dismissing Clary's attendance. Jace looked Magnus up and down while the Warlock stared at him disapprovingly. The older man was wearing tight purple pants with black shoes that came to a point at the tip and an even tighter orange shirt with a deep purple vest and tie. He looked like a Halloween decoration and Jace was confused by what he was going for in the fashion world, October chic? "You sir will wake up that ravishing beauty you slept next to last night and you will drag her little butt down here to hear this plan." Magnus said pointing at the younger boy. Jace braced his chin on his hand and stared at Magnus before speaking, "The ravishing beauty you're talking about has barely slept. So if you don't mind she's sitting out of this one." Magnus felt his heart clench. He'd never met a group of young adults, even in the shadow hunter world, who'd been through as much as these kids. "She has an hour." With that Magus turned on his heels and walked back to Alec's room to draw out their route on one of the many maps the shadow hunters kept in the institute. Magnus stared at the floor as he walked thinking about Sebastian, crazy how much one person can completely destroy so many lives the thought.
Clary stretched out on the bed and tried to keep her eyes closed as long as possible. She hadn't expected Jace to be there since for some reason he was never there in the morning and was surprised when she felt a gentle hand stroke her cheek. She slowly let her eyes ease open to see Jace's angular face leaning over her. "Could you not?" she whined rolling over and sticking her head under the pillow. "Sorry to disturb you, your highness but you're late for a meeting." Clary sighed and sat up trying to flatten her hair with her hand. "Ugh we really have to do this?" she whined slipping out from under the sheets and searching around the floor for her pants. Jace watched her and said smirking, "I'm all for staying here all day, you and me, maybe some music minus a few articles of clothing….."Jace trailed off letting his mind wander and didn't notice Clary glaring at him until she threw a pillow hitting him square in the jaw. "Fine we'll go to the meeting!" he yelled rubbing his jaw and giving her his best pained expression. They sat in his room for a few more minutes while Clary showered and got ready before walking around the Institute looking for Magnus and Alec.
"Hey Clary!" her and Jace turned to see Simon running down the hall at them with Isabelle following behind holding a seraph blade in either hand. "We need to go" he announced hurriedly shoving the two until they were sprinting down the halls down with Simon glancing over his shoulder ever few seconds. "What's going on?" Clary yelled grabbing Simon to get his attention. "The place is surrounded" Isabelle called coming up next to them, "Sebastian sent some of his ghouls to do his dirty work and they're trying to get past the wards." The three shadowhunters and Simon broke into a sprint weaving through the halls to get to the newly fixed portal in the library. "We need to inform the council!" Isabelle yelled as they passed through the large library doors. It took all of them to push the heavy doors shut behind them. "Took you long enough!" Alec said irritated standing next to a worried looking Magnus. "Bicker later children, right now we need to focus on getting out of here." Magnus opened the portal and the entire room was doused in blue shimmering light as the portals surface came to life. They all moved to stand in front of it just as the banging on the library door started. "Quickly now, everyone imagine the silent city, think of the grand hall that's where we're going." Magnus yelled over the banging. The portal started moving in weird waves and the light was dimming slowly but surely. "What's happening?" Simon asked grabbing Izzy's hand in his pulling her away from the blue light. "There's something messing with the portal!" Magnus grabbed his hair clenching his fists in frustration "damnit!" He kicked at an end table sending one of the legs flying and the small table toppling over. "Clary you've made a portal before do it again!" Isabelle said frantically as a large crack appeared on the library door. Clary looked at Jace who only nodded his encouragement. She took her stele out of her pocket and drew in a deep breath; she shut her eyes and ignored everything around her. She couldn't hear the pounding on the door, or Izzy's cries to speed things up all she could think about was making the portal so that's what she did. The blue light started small and grew until it was about the size of a doorway; she had to go in last to ensure the portal stayed open for everyone to pass through. First was Isabelle, then Simon then Alec. The library doors burst open and a hoard of red cloaked shadow hunters swarmed towards them. Magnus disappeared through the opening next followed by Jace who grabbed onto Clary's hand on the way through, but he was a second too late. One of Sebastian's shadowhunters, the blond one from the alley all that time ago had a vice grip around her waist and it was all Clary could do to close the portal before any of Sebastian's underlings slipped through.
Jace felt Clary's hand being tugged out of his, he watched through the haze of the portal as she was pulled backwards and thrown over someone's shoulder. He pushed forwards and tried to get to her but in an instant she was gone. Everything was gone. The library, Clary, the soldiers, he was left standing in the middle of a cold, dark room surrounded by bones and empty lanterns. He fell to his knees shocked. He had her; he was holding her hand they were almost safe, and all because he went first he lost her.
A scream tore through his throat and reverberated throughout the room sending chills down Izzy's spine. He sounded devastated, destroyed; she'd never seen him like this. Magnus stood off to the side with Alec speaking in hushed whispers while Jace slammed his fists against the ground mercilessly crushing his hand against the rock. Alec rushed to his side and pulled him backwards holding his hands against his sides so he'd stop. The blond boy thrashed and kicked trying to get loose but Alec was persistent and had an iron grip when he needed one. Simon helped by holding Jace's feet down so he didn't kick anyone and Isabelle was sent to find an adult, or one of the silent brothers. "No we have to go back Alec WE HAVE TO!" he slammed his body back against his parabatai sending a wave of pain through his rib cage making him wince but he refused to relinquish his hold on the younger boy. "LET ME GO!" He screamed smashing his head into the bridge of Alec's nose. Alec let out a yelp of pain that brought an angry Magnus over, it was just enough for him to loosen his hold long enough for Jace to pounce forward and send Simon tumbling over. Once he was standing again Jace looked at his companions his eyes wild. "We're going back for her." His voice was hoarse and desperate, and Alec swore he could see the blond's heart breaking but he had to see reason. "Jace do you really think they're still at the Institute? They're probably long gone by now." Alec said his voice muffled by his hands while he tried to staunch the bleeding from his nose. Jace let his head fall forward and stared at the ground, "you're right" he whispered" his entire body was shaking. Whether it was from anger or shock Simon couldn't tell. "What should we do?" Jace asked his voice cracking.
"Well for starters someone should tell me what's going on." They turned to the stairs to see Isabelle followed by Maryse Lightwood and two of the silent brothers.
Okay so this authors note is to clear some things up. Everyone keep asking if Clary's going to get pregnant because I never write in that they use protection. For arguments sake let's say Clary's on the pill and honestly I never remember to write in the use of a condom so that's my bad (oops) Some of you say you want Clary to get unexpectedly pregnant and other say please don't write that in so I could really use some help on that front if you guys wouldn't mind :) Please leave a review about this chapter it would be greatly appreciated and I'll try and update asap.