Zachary had not stopped thinking about Theo since he'd finally managed to peel himself away in the alleyway. He'd bumped into several people along the way home, lost in thought about Theo. Currently, he was sitting at the windowsill of his home, watching for Theo, praying that Theo would come find him, though he knew it was very likely that at the least Theo wouldn't show up until tomorrow—if he showed up at all.
Zachary's sword was laying in his lap, the red pommel seemed to be picking up the sunlight from outside, and it sparkled.
"And one day Zachy," His mother had said as she handed it to him after boring him with a long story about how much his father loved her, "you'll give it to your wife. And your son will give it to his wife, and so on and so forth until the end of time. This is our legacy."
But Zachary had never thought about having a wife. He'd never thought about marrying anybody. He just wanted to be a great Shadowhunter. He wanted the Silverguard name to be up there with the Herondales or the Carstairs. Love was stupid compared to glory.
Then he saw him, Theo, wandering down the street looking at the houses. His chest swelled, and he threw the window open. Act cool, he told himself, though he had no idea why impressing Theo was so important, "Hey!" He called out, waving in Theo's direction. Theo looked up and smiled at him. Zachary admired the way he was dressed. A t-shirt with some logo—probably a mundane thing—on it, and jeans that Zachary felt defined his legs quite well.
"Hey!" His voice was soft and almost melodic. Not too deep, like Zachary thought his own was.
"I was wondering when I'd see you again," He called, "Give me a moment, I'll be right down!" He threw on his shoes and strapped the Silverguard sword to his hip the charged down the stairs. His parents were out at the Gard, helping the refugee Shadowhunters however they could. They wouldn't notice if he left. He was smoothing his hair as he slowed to walk about the front door. Theo was waiting outside of the gate. There was a small stone fence that ran around the house and a wrought iron gate in the front.
"I've decided to take you up on that offer for a tour of Idris," Theo said confidently as Zachary crossed the path to the gate.
"I'm glad," Zachary said, and then felt like that was the wrong thing to say. He shouldn't be glad to take Theo out—to show Theo around Alicante. "I'm a great tour guide. The best around." He hoped that salvaged his original statement.
"So where to first Mr. Tour Guide?" Theo asked as they walked down the street.
"Have you been to Angel Square?" Zachary asked, running through the list of his favorite places in the city. There was Angel Square, the fountain in the Accords Hall, the roads outside the city that led to the bigger manors—but he doubted that taking Theo out of the city would be acceptable—and the park on the east end of the city.
"I think maybe once or twice when I little," Theo responded, "but I don't remember much about it. There's a statue of Raziel there right?"
Zachary smiled, "Yeah, there is. Come on, it's really beautiful."
He and Theo, talking the whole way, had stopped at the where the street entered Angel Square and stared at a mass of people crowding the usually open space. All of them were wearing some form of a white outfit decorated in mourning runes.
For death and mourning the color's white
"By the Angel," Theo muttered.
"I-I didn't know this was happening," Zachary said apologetically.
"So many people…"
Zachary grabbed his hand—it was soft and felt nice against his own calloused hand—and then quickly dropped it, "Uh, come on. We'll go somewhere else. Let these people mourn,"
Theo nodded, and turned back, "This really is bad isn't it?" He asked as they walked away.
"They'll stop Sebastian," Zachary told him.
Zachary took him around the city, Theo stopping each time to admire the Demon Towers, and Zachary pointing out shops and even buying them both a chocolate bar from a small sweets shop.
"So, what's it like living out there?" Zachary asked, "Y'know in the mundane world?"
Theo shrugged, "Mundanes are kind of boring," He said, "though once there was a big crash on the road that the window in the library faces and they spent hours cleaning it all up."
"Did someone die?"
"Beats me," Theo said, breaking another chunk off his chocolate bar and sticking it in his mouth, "I only watched from the window."
"Alicante isn't so great either," He said, "There's no action here. I swear the first time I encounter a demon I'm going to die because I've had no real practice."
"I killed a demon once," Theo said thoughtlessly.
"What?" Zachary had not expected him to say that, "You're like thirteen,"
"I turn fifteen in a month," Theo replied bitterly, "And anyway, it wasn't like I did it alone. My dad was there, he did most of the work and I just stabbed it. Demons smell horrible by the way."
"I read about that in the Codex." Zachary said, sticking his hands in his back pockets, "Something about burning hair and rotting."
"It's definitely not a pleasant smell," Theo chuckled. Zachary found himself chuckling too.
"I'll keep it in mind as I'm being torn apart by a Dahak demon."
Theo grinned, "Nah you've got a cool sword. The people with cool swords don't get torn apart by demons, they get heroically struck down while facing an army of demons."
Zachary burst into a fit of laughter, "What?"
"Only heroes have cool swords," Theo said, starting to laugh as well, "you don't see Dave the Farmer wielding something like Excalibur, only King Arthur does that."
"My little sword is no Cortana." Zachary said, now feeling almost embarrassed, "and it can't be that cool, it doesn't even have a name."
"Then name it." Theo said bluntly.
"I wouldn't have the slightest idea of what to name it," Zachary laughed, "you name it."
Theo shook his head, "No no, I can't name it. It's your sword."
"Only until I get married," Zachary said, "Although, I don't really plan on doing that so maybe you're right." He smiled at Theo. Theo smiled back.