Review? Maybe? Tell me what I'm doing good, what I'm doing bad (be gentle please) any predictions, or recommendations. Feedback is important to a good story, dear readers.

Enjoy!

:)

She let out a piercing scream, her voice scratchy and rough from the endless hours of straining her voice in such a way. They'd always told her to let out her power, but she didn't know how. They told her many things, but still, she never understood what they wanted from her.

Each moment she was left alone, her wounds would heal, though never entirely. She was never left long enough for that.

"Now, dear, shall we continue?"

"Eat shit and die, old man."

"Oh, now that's a rude thing to say to your father."

She scoffed. "You are far from my father."

"You never knew your father, did you? You never knew what a father even was until it was explained to you by that man."

"He was more of a father to me than you'll ever be."

"You can't help what's in your genes, darling. Like it or not, we are related."

"I don't care who the hell I'm related to by blood. A father doesn't have to share DNA. He just has to care for his child, show them kindness."

"I am showing you a kindness, love. I'm trying to help you. You have power in there just waiting to be woken up. You can be the savior of our species."

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Out of all creatures, the child of the mundane is the one to have survived. You are truly a special one, my gem."

"I feel so privileged."

"You should be. Once you learn to stop resisting and let go, you'll have power beyond any creature in this world and the next. Even more so than those high and mighty angels, even the gods themselves."

"I don't care for that bullshit, arsehole."

"You will. Until then, we'll just have to continue the fun, shall we?"

And the screams continued, day in and day out. Years passed without her seeing more than just the room she was restrained in. Sunlight was nothing but a dream long since forgotten, smiles were a foreign concept, and freedom was nothing but an illusion.

Eventually, I had no will left to resist, but I didn't even know what I was supposed to give in to.

As time passed, she never grew accustomed to the misery she lived in. How was one ever supposed to get used to the kind of pain she felt? All time ever did for her, was make sure she understood nothing better than that pain existed outside of the world.

And it would be a long time before she understood who she was, why this was happening to her, and what happened on the day she was finally killed.

"Any word from the Clave?" Isabelle asked.

"Not yet, and we've been trying for the past four hours," Lydia reported. "Something's up."

"Hmm, the Clave being unhelpful?" Magnus asked. "Who's shocked? Show of hands?"

"I'm worried," Alec said. "I can't sense Jace through our parabatai bond."

"We'll find him, Alexander."

"When we arrested Hodge, he said Valentine was on a ship," Izzy said. "They must still be over water."

"Pull up the waterways around New York," Shu requested.

Izzy did so, pulling up a holographic map.

"The ship couldn't have gone too far," Lydia reasoned.

Shu closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Magnus tried searching for Jace using one of his jackets.

"Anything?" Alec asked.

"Sorry," Magnus said.

"There's gotta be something!"

"We can't see him."

"It's too fuzzy," Shu agreed. "The best I can tell you is he's over water. It's not that the water itself is causing an issue, but we're being blocked directly, and the water is actually the clearest thing in the image. I'm sorry, Alec. We're trying."

"All right, listen up!" Alec called, and everyone in the Institute froze. "I want 24/7 monitoring of the Hudson and East Rivers. If you see anything unusual, you come to me first."

"I've got this, Alec," Lydia said.

"Then why haven't you found Jace yet?"

"Don't forget who you're talking to. I am still the head of this Institute."

"And my brother is still missing."

"Why don't you just take a break?" Izzy suggested.

"Not now, Izzy."

"Isabelle's right," Lydia agreed. "And it's not a request. You're dismissed."

"Fine."

He turned to stomp off when Magnus rushed forward to grab his arm. "Hey…"

Alec wrenched his arm free. "Everybody, just back off!"

Magnus gave a face and Shu sighed. "Can't really blame him for being so worried. Jace is his brother, his best friend, and his parabatai bond. Someone so close…I'd be worrying my head off too."

"I'm sorry for how I reacted before. It's not personal."

"I get it. I'm a lot to get used to."

He walked up to stand beside him on the roof. "I know what you're going through, Alexander."

"No, I…I don't think you do. Jace…is a part of me. Through a rune we are both physically and emotionally connected. If he dies, a part of me dies too. And I know he's out there. And he's in trouble and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"Two hundred years ago Shu was captured by a horde of Greater Demons. All of them wanted her power, whatever gift they believed she had. They tortured her. They brainwashed her. They nearly killed her. And do you know how I know what she went through? It's not because she told me. Even I couldn't get her to relieve everything that happened back there in full detail. It's because we're bonded, Alexander. It works like your parabatai bond, but even stronger. I know everything she feels, she knows everything I feel. We can telepathically communicate, and even damage done to one of us can be transferred over to the other. If she were to die, a part of me wouldn't just die, Alexander. I would die too. Even if I didn't get the physical pain, my soul itself wouldn't be able to handle life without her. You don't know how many times within the centuries since we've met that we have feared for each other's lives. So yes, maybe I do understand what you're going through. Just tell me what I can do."

"Help me track Jace. I want to use our rune. I just…need your magic for the pain."

"I can't help you with this."

"Why not?"

"The last time you used a rune to track Jace, it almost killed you."

"Why can't you just do this one thing?! After everything I've done for you?!"

"Because as hard as it is to believe, I'm more afraid of losing you than I am even Shu!"

Alec let out a deep sigh and turned to walk away.

A few moments later, Shu deemed it safe to run up the steps to the roof and to Magnus.

"You heard all that?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I trust Alec, and I trust you. If anything, I'm happy you found someone to care so much about. Don't be too mad at him, Mags. You said so yourself, you know what it's like to lose someone bonded to you, someone so close."

"Perhaps I know too much about what it's like to go through something like that. Perhaps I've gotten used to it, learned to have faith in you, in me, in those around me. I know how to handle things, and so maybe I don't understand what it's like to be panicking anymore. To not know what there is to be done."

"Then it's up to you to walk Alec through this. Do you remember how Ragnor had to comfort you when I went missing during that incident you mentioned? Or that time Caterina worked me through when you went missing to that disciple of the men who had wanted me? The only way that you can ever learn to have hope in the hardest of times is to have someone there for you to help you through it."

"I don't know."

She put her hands onto his shoulders.

"You'll know when you need to most. Trust me."

"Who are you supposed to be?"

"I could ask the same thing to you."

He paused, giving her a once over. "Magnus. Magnus Bane."

"Asushunamir. I go by Shu. What are you doing here?"

"I have a business client to meet. You?"

"Basically the same thing."

"Basically?"

"Basically. Who you looking for? Better not be the same guy."

"Not entirely sure. I'll know him when I see him."

"Great business you have there, Warlock."

"What about you? Basically the same thing?"

"No. Not that similar. I don't do dark deals."

"I do people favors, fair and honest deals. They aren't dark."

"The people you deal with are."

"Takes one to know one."

"You bet it does, buster."

"Excuse me? Asushunamir?"

Shu pulled out a handgun and aimed it at the man who walked up. "How do you know my name?"

"Eavesdropping?" Magnus guessed.

"Relax, girl. My job here is already done."

She fired and shot him straight through the eyebrows, his body exploding into ashes. She slipped her gun back into its holster.

"Have a few enemies?" Magnus asked.

"More than you know."

She turned to walk away, and Magnus was planning on letting her go, if not for the fact that once she walked about ten feet away, his wrist was suddenly tugged with a powerful pull. A long, glistening chain appeared between them, connecting Shu's right wrist to Magnus's left, her side red and his blue, the colors fading to purple in the middle and then flowing to the opposing color about two thirds of the way down each.

"What did you do, Warlock?!"

"What did I do?! What did you do?!"

They each pulled on the chain, but seeing as Shu was much stronger than Magnus, he was tugged forward and nearly lost his balance.

"Shit, what is this thing?!" She grumbled.

"Some kind of chain."

"No shit, Sherlock!"

"Who?"

"Ugh, nevermind!"

"It worked!" "Get 'em!"

"Fuck. Come on, Warlock boy. Time to run."

"This who you're here to meet?"

"More like here to attack, but thanks to you-!"

"This is not my fault! This is your fault for leading these guys here and walking into an ambush!"

"Just shift, or I drag you!"

"I do not run from a fight!"

"It's not running, honey, it's just…charging in the opposite direction. Now move!"

They ran through the streets of the two, their attackers unseen by any mundane around them. Magnus charged an orb of power between his hands and threw it at one of the pursuing men, knocking him out, but there were still plenty more to go.

"We're outnumbered!"

"Dammit, why did I have to be the one dragged into this?!"

"Would you shut up and keep running?! It's bad enough I've been ambushed by them, but to have to be stuck with you while I'm at it must be someone's idea of a joke!"

A dagger suddenly found it's way into Magnus's shoulder, and both he and Shu screamed, tripping and falling to the ground. Shu held her shoulder, blood leaking out from a wound that Magnus should've had. He was facing his own end of the pain in the same way, just he had the weapon sticking out of his shoulder.

"Dammit, what did they do to us?!"

"Come on. We have…have to move…"

Shu flicked her hand and a manhole cover glowed with her magic, lifting out of the ground and moving to the side.

"We are not going in there!" Magnus shouted.

"It's either this or die! Make your choice! I'll leave you out here and wait until you're dead and the chain is chopped before I move on, if you're so desperate to be killed!"

She crawled her way over to the hole and dropped down inside. Sighing in exasperation, Magnus reluctantly followed her, and once he was down, the Manhole cover was moved into place again, and then disappeared from the ground, leaving nothing for their pursuers to try and break through.

Alec saw that Magnus and Shu were heading towards the doors and chased after them down the hall. "Hey. Hey!"

Shu took Magnus's arm and Magnus reluctantly came to a stop and turned around.

"What? Are you going home?"

"Where else would I be going? My interview's over and I'm exhausted. Besides, at my house, there's steak and vodka. I'd rather be there."

He turned to leave once more.

"Wait, you're just…you're not gonna help?"

Magnus turned around once more, giving Alec a skeptical look. "You really don't get it, do you?"

Alec shook his head in confusion.

"You didn't risk anything for me. You did it for you."

"What?"

"Magnus…" Shu muttered.

"No, hold on. A-Are you seriously doing this? Right now? Right now?"

"You know, damn well, I wanna find Jace just as much as you do, but that's no excuse to treat me like-"

"Well then what do you want from me?!"

There was a long pause of silence as Magnus swallowed. "At the moment? Nothing."

Alec hesitated and looked like he was about to say something, but then the lights in the Institute went red, an alarm blaring.

Magnus turned to leave, putting his arm on Shu's for her to follow. Alec put his hand up, as if about to try and stop him, but decided against it. Shu nodded in an awkward farewell before hurrying after Magnus.

"Okay, now concentrate the energy into a smaller mass. Sustain and contain."

Magnus let his Warlock mark eyes show as he infused a large deal of his magic into a small ball of energy, the amount of magic being put into it so great that it was sparking with electricity, unlike his normal magic that flowed as wisps of smoke.

"Good. Now move it around. You're not just gonna be standing there and walking up to your enemies to zap them. You need to be able to keep the energy contained and in control even when it's on the move. The farther from the energy source - your hands - that it gets, the harder it is to hang onto, and when it's not an even distance from either hand, you have to adjust to the amount of energy being put in."

Magnus danced around with the magic orb he'd created, sustaining it with his powers as well as dealing with the extra strains on either hand as it shifted position.

"All right. Now no more Warlock mark. Don't be reliant on it. It's you're last resort for a fight, so keep it in the bag as long as possible. Best to keep a trump card for the opportune moment."

Magnus's eyes faded as he continued the exercise on the balcony. Behind him, Shu saw the door open and Alec walked through. If Magnus knew he was there, he didn't react, moving his creation gracefully through the air and getting used to the strain, barely noticing it as he switched the hand he was putting more power through.

"Magnus," Alec called. "I'm not good at apologies…but I'm…I'm sorry."

"Continue," Magnus said, acknowledging him.

"I'm…really sorry."

A smile made its way across Shu's face. Really bad apologies.

"For?" Magnus helped.

"Look, can you just cut that out for a second?"

Magnus concentrated the energy before tossing it behind him. Alec dodged out of the way, and Shu caught it, suddenly appearing behind Alec and absorbing the energy and snuffing it out. "Good aim."

Alec sighed and stepped forward to the balcony with Magnus. "You were right. When I called off my wedding, that was for me. But this is all just…It's very new."

Magnus slipped on his sleeveless hoodie. "This may surprise you, but you're new for me too." He zipped it up in a huff.

"Look, with Jace missing, it's just like…the ground has shifted, and I-I can't keep my balance."

"It feels like your entire world is crumbling around you, like suddenly everything has been taken out of your hands and you're helpless. I understand that feeling, trust me."

Magnus tried to walk back inside past Alec, but he quickly snatched up the Warlock's arm. "Just…"

Magnus came to a stop and looked down as Alec slid his hand down to take his hand.

"I didn't mean to take it out on you. I'm sorry."

Magnus looked slightly taken back by the proper apology. "You're forgiven. Also…you're great at apologies."

He moved to adjust the collar of his jacket, and Alec chuckled. "Thanks. I've been working on it."

Alec stared out off the balcony, the sounds of traffic and the night city ringing out down below.

"Here's the thing," Magnus said. "We're always going to face challenges. So, when things get crazy, don't push me away."

Alec nodded, and without a word spoken, a promise was shared between them.

Shu used Alec's stele to activate and feed energy into his parabatai rune.

"Why can't you use your stele?" Alec asked out of curiosity.

"Trust me, you really don't wanna know what happens when someone else touches my stele," Shu said. "It's way more powerful than a normal stele. I'm a Warlock, remember? I've got demon blood in me, that's no lie or anything."

"But to use a stele, to handle runes, you-"

"Need to have angel blood within you. Yeah. I know."

"So you're part angel, part demon?"

"Also part mundane. I'm a freak of nature, all right. Demons, Shadowhunters, Downworlders of all kinds have tried to replicate the process used to make someone like me, but not once has it been successful. Maybe things were similar, but it was impossible to get someone as powerful as me and still have them survive the process. If anyone tells you they're part angel, part demon, part mundane, they're lying. If they aren't lying, test their power against mine. I'll bet my life they aren't as powerful, potent, or in control of themselves. Trust me. I've seen it all."

"How old are you, again?"

"That's something you should never ask a lady. But…since I actually like you. I'll let that one slide. Let's just put it this way, I was alive and kicking before the first Shadowhunters had come into existence. Actually, my stele was stolen from the first Shadowhunter when we had an…argument. It's obviously changed significantly over the years, but it's still one of the most dangerous and powerful steles in existence, mostly because this was the prototype of all prototypes, just an experiment at this point. The first stele obviously hadn't been made with inhibitors to keep them from killing someone, even an angel, when they drew the runes. It was only first being used when I took it, and so the Shadowhunter using it didn't know of its deadliness yet."

"So you can handle those powerful runes made by the stele's unrestrained power?"

"Yeah. The power in the stele is the only thing strong enough to even activate or draw my runes these days. Do me a favor and keep all these things to yourself? You'd be surprised by how little the Clave can use to turn someone into an enemy of the state."

Alec sighed. "Trust me, I think I have a good idea."

"They turned on Jace, didn't they?"

"Yeah."

"Predictable. They just turned on the nearest person to blame to make themselves feel better."

"First Izzy, now Jace. Have things always been this way and I've just never noticed?"

"Maybe. I tried to keep away from the Clave for that very reason. But hey. Now that your eyes are open, I expect you to make use of them, right?"

"Right."

"Stupid thing!"

Shu slammed her sword down on the shimmering chain, but it was unaffected by the blade that had never failed to cut through anything in its entire existence.

"Do you know anything about what this is?" Magnus asked.

"It's probably some kind of magical bond that won't release us until we fulfill a certain task or state of mind."

"And what might that be?"

"The last time I faced one of these things, it was a couple friends of mine. They had to fall in love or be shackled up for eternity."

"Fall in love? With you?"

"I know, don't sound so surprised. Anyway, that's probably far too easy if someone wanted me dead. Besides, that previous chain didn't have the side-effects of shared wounds. The people that did this probably wanted it done so that killing me would be far easier. All they'd have to do is kill you."

"Are you calling me weak?"

"Why yes, yes I am. You are observant though."

He whacked her on the arm.

"So is there any way to break this?"

"Nothing I can think of, and I'm much older than you. These things just don't go away."

"What about cutting our hands off?"

"Too simple. It'd most likely just attach to something else more vital, and I have no desire to have this thing around my neck like some animal. Besides, growing back hands hurt."

"Yeah, that's why it'd be so painful. I'd have a hard time doing magic that way, too."

"Then we're agreed."

"Then what the hell do we do?"

"We find out what this thing wants from us, and we do it all while surviving those guys who put it on in the first place."

"Great. Why did I have to be the one dragged into this…?"

"All right, Alec. Ready to track your parabatai?"

He nodded and leaned back on the couch.

Magnus snapped his magic to life before sending it out towards Alec, keeping him stable and preparing him for what was about to occur.

"Okay. Hold on tight," Shu warned.

She moved the stele to his parabatai rune and moved to activate it.

Then, Alec looked up in realization.

"What just happened?" Magnus asked. "Did it start?"

"I don't need to," Alec realized.

Alec quickly stood and grabbed his shirt and jacket, Magnus canceling his magic with a slightly confused look on his face.

"I sense him. He's on land. I'm heading back to the Institute. I'll call off the dead-or-alive manhunt for Jace. Thank you, Magnus."

He rushed out, slipping on his clothes as he ran.

"What exactly did I do again?" Magnus asked.

"It's always the thought that counts, sweetheart."