Chapter 8 - To Edom We Go

Alec stormed off, feeling like no one else was taking this seriously. He walked into his office and slammed the door behind him, on the verge of explosion. He wanted to break something, smash it against the wall.

Magnus was in Edom, under his father's vicious manipulation, he was stuck there probably feeling helpless, like no one cared. Alec was determined to save him, with or without the help of everyone else.

Izzy was the only one who showed any interest to help, she had wanted to go to Edom on her own, seeing as she was the only one that could actually stand to be there, because of the Heavenly Fire in her cells. But Alec could not allow his little sister to go on her own, it was too dangerous and he could not - would not risk it.

Jace walked in a few minutes after him, closing the door softly and talking a few steps forward, but still keeping some distance between them. "Alec, are you okay?" he asked, knowing it was probably a stupid question, because clearly, he was not..

"No, I'm not okay Jace." Alec shouted, his tone more cold and accusing, than it should be. But at that moment, he couldn't care less. "Magnus is in Edom, with Asmodeus, and no one else seems to care."

"Of course we care." If he noticed the tone Alec was using, Jace didn't acknowledge it. He remained calm and collected, and a little weary, because he had never seen Alec like that. After hesitating for a moment, assessing the distance between them, and the state of the broken man in front of him, he took a few steps closer.

"Well you could've fooled me." Alec spat at him, not caring anymore about anything else. Jace, who was just about to place his hand on his Parabatai's shoulder, froze mid-way, taken aback and had no idea how to react.

"When Clary showed up, everyone just jumped up to help her blindlessly, but now, when I want to save Magnus, no one gives a damn." Alec continued, clearly letting down all filters.

Jace looked at him for a moment, trying to calm himself down quickly, he did not want to react on impulse, he knew Alec was upset and worried and scared. "Alec, we're talking about Edom here, we just want to be cautious." he said, letting his outstretched arm fall to his side. "It's very dangerous, so we need to be very cautious"

"I don't care how dangerous it is, this is Magnus we're talking about," Alec yelled, "He's always been there for all of us, always helped us when we needed it, no matter the danger."

"I know, and I promise you that we will find a way." Jace insisted, "But we also can't risk everyone's life so carelessly."

"You owe him your life!" Alec shouted, losing all control over his anger.

"Excuse me?" Jace took a step back, also starting to lose his calm. He was trying to be understanding, but it was becoming more difficult with the accusation Alec had thrown at him.

"You're the reason he lost his magic to begin with." Alec spat, pointing a finger, "He did it to save your life, you owe him as much."

Ouch.

There it was.

They both stood frozen for a moment, their eyes locked in a deep and painful glare. The tension was thick and suffocating, neither of them knowing how to react. It was too much, too loaded.

"Look, I know you're hurting and I can only imagine how difficult this is for you, but don't take your shit out on me." Jace spoke, fighting himself not to explode and lose control at the hurtful words thrown at him. He knew that Alec did not mean them, he was speaking out of desperation and the deep helpless pain he was feeling.

"But it's true." Alec insisted, his voice showing no sign of remorse at his words, as if it were truly what he believed.

"Alec, you don't mean that." Jace's voice was shaking from the struggle to keep calm, he was about to lose control as well, despite all his efforts not to, "I understand you're angry, and you suffering, but-"

"Don't tell me how I feel or what I do or do not mean," Alec cut him off, "You have no clue what I feel, how hard it is for me to know that the man I loved lost his very essence to save my parabatai."

"No, that's where you're wrong," Jace began to fight back, no longer able to hold off. "He may have technically saved my life, but the only reason he did it was for you."

"If that's what you want to tell yourself, fine." Alec said, turning away from his parabatai.

"It's the truth, he did it because he knew if I died you would lose part of yourself." Jace said firmly, "he did it so you would stay whole, whether you would like to admit that or not."

Alec turned back around, and stood staring at him for a moment, he knew Jace was right, he was saying exactly what he's been blaming himself with, he couldn't deny it. He fell into his chair behind his desk and buried his face in his hands. "God, I destroyed him." he mumbled into his hands, "Jace I just ruined his life."

Despite his anger, Jace made his way to his brother and kneeled down next to him, "You're being hard on yourself, this is not your fault." He said and placed a hand on Alec's shoulder. "He was the one to make that decision, you did not force him or even ask him to."

"I abandoned him Jace, I just left him alone with nothing and nowhere to go. And now he is stuck with Asmodeus." Alec finally managed to lock eyes with Jace, his gaze was heartbreaking.

"We will find him, I promise you, we will do anything we can." Jace promised.

"He erased his memories of me."

"What?"

"Brother Zachariah told me, it's why he's been acting so strange." Alec said, still finding it hard to believe, "he was that hurt. I broke him that much, that he needed to erase his memories."

Jace was about to reply when Clary stormed in without knocking, "Meliorn is her." she announced, frantickly, "He told us that Izzy came to him, she asked him to let her through to Edom, so she can go save Magnus."

"Shit." Alec exclaimed as he stood up abruptly, almost knocking Jace over, who was still kneeling beside him. Alec reached out quickly and help him balance and then stand up as well.

After that, he began to pace, angry at himself that he was too preoccupied to pay enough attention and notice what Izzy planned to do, he should have seen it coming, he should have known that's what she would do. He felt helpless, no matter what he did or how hard he tried, things just seemed to go wrong and got worse. "I can't believe she did that."

"I can." Jace said, considering who they were talking about. And when Alec stopped pacing and gave him a death glare, he raised his hands defensively, "This is Izzy we're talking about, of course she listened to no one and went on her own."

Alec sighed and silently agreed with his Parabatai, "Well, this just means we have no choice but to find a way to Edom as well."

"That's not the only thing Meliorn told us." Clary told them, regret in her voice, she did not want to be the one to give the bad news.

Of course there was more, of course that wasn't the worst of it - it was never ending. "What is it?" Jace asked.

Taking a deep breath, Clary spoke, "Meliorn also said that at the dimensional doorway to Edom, they got word that Lilith is building an army against Magnus."

"What? What about Asmodeus?" Alec questioned, exasperated by how everything just kept derailing and worsening by the minute.

"It wasn't clear, but we figured that Magnus somehow got rid of him." Meliorn spoke up from the entrance to the office, they all spun around to look at him, surprised. None of them had noticed him showing up.

"Can you let us go through?" Alec was the first one to come out of the shock.

"I can't, the queen closed all our borders and doorways." Meliorn explained, "But even if I could, none of you would survive in Edom."

They all stayed silent for a long moment, all out of answers. If it were even possible, Alec grew even more frustrated as they hit yet another dead end.

"I have an idea," Clary finally spoke up, breaking the silence. "What if I could create some kind of alliance rune, that will bind downwolders to shadowhunter, we could share all of our powers and immunities."

"Like a temporary Parabatai rune?" Jace suggested.

"Exactly."

"Okay, but even if you could do that, and it actually works, how will we get to Edom?" Alec asked, folding his arms on his chest.

"We could speak to Lorenzo," Clary said, "we can ask him to draw a pentagram that will take us there."

Magnus was pacing around aimlessly, he was hoping that ridding of his father was going to rid whatever dark hold he had on him, but he still felt what his father wanted him to feel, he still didn't have whatever real memories he used to have, he still remembered the false memories as if they were real.

He noticed now how distant they felt, they were blurred and strange, all of them as if he was just someone observing from the side, but still they felt very much real, he could remember the way he felt in those fake moments, he could feel the pain that wasn't actually caused to him.

It was as if someone had actually punched a hole in his heart, there was an ache in his chest that he couldn't ignore, an emptiness in the pit of his stomach, and being there all alone in Edom was not helping. Magnus felt consumed by it all, it was out of his control, taking over his whole being.

"Ready to give up yet?" Lillith asked, walking once again through the entrance, showing up unannounced and uninvited.

Magnus looked up at her and rolled his eyes, he tried to shove away all the doubts he had about his memories, and focus on staying strong and unbreakable, and sounding threatening. "Seems like I'm not the only one not willing to give up." He said coldly, "was I not clear enough last time?"

"You were clear." She said, taking a step forward, "I just refuse to accept it."

"Well, you said it yourself - you are not strong enough to fight me." Magnus reminded her, also taking a step forward, his back straight, stretching to his full height.

Lillith laughed, a disturbing sound which Magnus did not like, but kept the same expression, remaining unaffected in her eyes. "That is where you are wrong." She told him, just as a hurd of demons began flying in circles over head. "I may not be at my strongest at the moment, but I have many friends to help me, and it seems you have none."

Magnus looked up at the sky, as more and more demons joined in and began to shoot in every direction, causing pillars to collapse and walls to shake. But he managed to remain calm, refusing to show any weakness, he was about to reply when a stream of white and gold light shot down some of the demons.

"That is where you are wrong," A voice spoke from behind Lillith, who spun around to face Isabelle, "Magnus is not alone."

Magnus was just as shocked as Lillith was, to see her standing there, speaking to the queen of hell without an ounce of fear or hesitation. "Oh how cute, you think you can fight me and my demons?" Lillith laughed again, as more demons came flying in.

Instead of replying, Izzy just thrust her arms in Lillith direction, and another stream of heavenly fire shot out of her palms. A deafening, inhuman shriek escaped Lillith mouth, as she was hit and thrown off her feet.

As Izzy fell to her knees, and the heavenly fire ceased, Lillith flew up into the air in her demonic form and exploded. Magnus, who was rooted to his spot until that moment, and tried to make sense of what was happening, ran to Izzy's side and placed a hand on her back, surprising even himself with how worried he was about her.

"Are you okay?"' he asked her.

Izzy smiled at him, "Yes, I'm just exhausted from the heavenly fire." she told him.

"Heavenly fire?"

"It's a long story."

"What are you even doing here?" Magnus asked as they both stood up.

"I came here to save you, get you out of here." Izzy explained.

"Oh." Magnus seemed surprised, "But I can't leave, because of the rift." he pointed to the sky and they both fell silent for a moment.

"Look, Magnus… about Alec…" Izzy began to speak, she wanted to take advantage of this moment to help her brother, try and soften Magnus up.

"Yeah I know." He told her, "Asmodeus told me."

"What did he tell you?"

"Enough to make me trap him in limbo." Magnus explained, "but I just don't know anymore what to believe."

"I know, and you and Alec need to talk about it properly, but I just want to make sure you know he really does care about you." Izzy told him.

"Well, I don't exac-" Magnus began, but was cut off when Izzy suddenly fell forward in pain. At first she fell to her knees as her whole body went up in flames, then she collapsed to the ground completely, laying on her back.

Magnus rushed to her side once again, but he had no idea what was going on and how to help her. "Isabelle, what is happening?" He asked, "What can I do to help you?"

"It's the heavenly fire." Izzy managed to tell him, as she struggled, "Not sure there's much to do."

"Izzy! Magnus!" A voice called to them, Magnus looked up but saw no one. "Magnus!" the voice called again, sounding closer. It was Alec. Magnus looked down at Isabelle who was still struggling on the ground, and then took a few steps back and stood by a pillar, so he was not in direct line of sight.

"Oh my God, Izzy!" Simon shouted and ran to her side, "What happened to her?" Alec and Jace Kneeled beside him as they tried to help Izzy.

"The heavenly fire." She managed, but had no energy to explain any further.

"Magnus!" Clary called, she was the first to notice him by the pillar. Everyone else looked up, Alec stood and took a step toward him.

"I tried to help Her," Magnus said almost immediately, as if he were being accused. "I didn't know what to do."

"How did this happen?" Jace asked him.

"She just showed up and shot the Heavenly Fire energy at Lillith, it destroyed her, but it seems that Isabelle's body did not react well." Magnus explained, finally stepping toward them.

"Are you okay?" Alec asked him, his voice quiet and filled with concern, as he braved another step toward him. Magnus looked at him, he did not step away when Alec got closer.

"I'm fine." Magnus whispered.

Alec closed the gap between them, and despite it all, he pulled Magnus close to him and wrapped his arms around him. "I don't know what exactly Asmodeus did to you, but I know you're confused and I promise you that we will figure it all out." he whispered in his warlocks ear.

"What if I draw the rune on her?" Clary suggested, "We could absorb some of her pain and the energy from the Heavenly Fire."

Alec let go of Magnus, and looked between him and Izzy, as if not sure who needed him more, "Go to her." Magnus told him, "I will be fine."

Alec gave him one last look and squeezed his hand before going to his sister, "Let's do it." he told Clary.