Magnus and Alec came portaling in, smiling and carrying bags.

"I mean, how would they feel?" Alec was saying.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't ask in front of the sushi chef," Magnus said, setting his bags down.

"Well, seriously, why do they call it fatty tuna? I mean that's a little degrading."

"Hm, well, I don't think obese tuna sounds any better."

"You know, as much as I love Tokyo and Prague, a bacon burger from the East Village isn't that bad."

"The world is your oyster, Alexander."

He moved to unpack more things from the bags (including an elephant statue which the apartment totally needed along with all of the other ones) when Alec tapped his shoulder and got his attention.

"I got you something."

"Me?" Magnus asked in surprise.

"Yes. You."

He passed over a small bag, which Magnus took slowly, still pretty shocked.

"Open it," Alec urged, while turning away in slight embarrassment.

He took a deep breath and gathered his courage while Magnus pulled a small charm out of the bag and tossed said bag away to examine the small object. It had Japanese symbols on it along with some small patterns on the fabric. Though it wasn't much, Magnus was instantly attached to it.

"It's supposed to bring you luck and protection," Alec explained.

Magnus looked up to him, smiling. "Thank you, Alexander. You continue to surprise me."

"In good ways, I hope."

They each leaned in for a kiss, but they were interrupted by the sound of laughter in the other room. Both of them sighed in exasperation, Magnus walking behind Alec towards the room.

"I haven't had a roommate this brazen since…Well, since Casanova and I spent the night in the Doge's Palace."

Alec scoffed. "Casanova?" Alec asked like 'Seriously?' "I'll talk to Jace. He can't stay here forever."

"No, no. Nothing a little magic can't fix."

He waved his hand and his magic whooshed to life before he snapped. The music player flicked on a upbeat music began playing throughout the room.

"All good?" Magnus asked.

Alec smiled and nodded.

"When I vouched for Jace to stay with us, I did not approve of a girlfriend, nor anything that goes on in that room between them. Nor any amount of girls in general! I did this out of generosity and like of Alexander, but now he's just abusing it."

"He's going through emotional stress," Magnus said as they walked into Maia's bar. "Just let him get it out of his system. Granted, if it continues for much longer, though, I might just kick him out along with you."

They sat at the bar as Maia made cocktails. Magnus slid over a bill. "Thank you, my dear."

"On the house for my best tipper," She said.

"Never trust a stingy Warlock, Maia," Shu warned.

"Not when we have an eternity to acquire wealth," Magnus continued with a wink.

"I'll remember that," She said, taking the money.

"What you got there?" Shu asked.

"A gift," Magnus said, holding the charm Alec had given him. "I can't remember the last time someone bought me one. I'm used to people making demands. 'Reinforce the wards, Magnus,' 'Heal my broken heart, Magnus,' 'Portal me to Paris, Magnus.'"

He then sighed and smiled down at the charm in his hands.

"Is it from someone special?" Maia asked.

He shook his head, still in disbelief himself, but then nodded. "I think so."

Shu smiled and put her hand on his wrist. "I'm so happy for you, Maggie. I support you all the way."

Maia smiled and went back to cleaning some of the beer cups, when the loud clicking of heels got the Warlocks' attention. Behind them, Isabelle swept past and walked up to Rufus, a drug dealer, looking desperate.

"That's-"

"Yep."

"And that's-"

"Yep."

"Probably not good."

"Yep."

"Let's go."

"Yep."

"Whatever it costs," Izzy was saying.

"Rufus, my man," Shu called as they walked up. "I wish I could say it was lovely to see you."

"Magnus, Shu," Izzy said. "What are you doing here?"

"The question is what is Rufus doing here?" Magnus said. "He knows he's banned from North America…indefinitely."

Rufus gave a glare before sighing and walking past to leave.

"Qué haces, guapa?" Magnus asked ("What are you doing, beautiful?")

Izzy smiled. "I'm here on business."

She walked over to the table, and the two of them followed.

"Drug dealer business?" Shu asked.

"Exactly. I'm trying to crack down on the Downworlder drug trade."

"Isabelle, we don't need magic to know when we're being lied to."

"There's been a spike in the demand for Yin Fen and I have orders to find the source. If you don't believe me, call Aldertree."

Magnus looked down. "Apologies. We've seen the havoc Yin Fen can wreak up close and personal. Nearly cost our friend Jem his life."

"Do you know where to look for the source?"

"Definitely not Rufus. But if you wanna stop a Yin Fen distribution ring, you'll need to find the kingpin."

"Any ideas on who that might be?"

"Probably one of the Night Children."

"Yin Fen is made from vampire venom," Shu explained. "It's how vampires enchant their prey. That venom combined with excessive amounts of blood loss make a vampire's target dazed and high. Except someone found a way to turn that high into a drug. When people get desperate enough, they go straight to the vamps."

She nodded. "Good to know."

"This is dangerous business, Isabelle. Be careful."

She smiled. "I always am."

With a skeptical look, Shu and Magnus walked off.

When they hopped through the portal back to the apartment, Shu sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "I'm turning in. And sound-proofing my room. I don't need another night of hearing Jace and his next girlfriend trying to increase the population of New York."

She headed into her room and waved her hand as the walls, ceiling, and floor all shimmered for a moment. Once the room was quieted from the outside world, she collapsed onto her bed in relief.

With all the drama going on with the Shadowhunters, the Downworlders, the demons, Valentine, her own feelings, she was happy for a break. Solitude was a nice thing sometimes, especially having grown up with Magnus these past few centuries.

After a few minutes of lying there with her thoughts swirling around, calming in the process, she stood and moved to change. She removed her jacket and then her shirt, noticing in the mirror her two necklaces: the one on the longer leather cord being the gem Charon had given her, and the one on the shorter cord she usually kept hidden beneath her shirt being the ring with the runes.

But none of them can help me with this. Not even Magnus.

There is someone. Someone even older than you.

I mean another person who knows you even better than you do. The one who's always trying to look out for you, even though he's not very good at showing it.

He pointed to her chest where her necklace was.

She moved her hand to the ring. "If only…"

She had watched them burn. She hated them. She had felt as their very souls suffered in pain far longer than a normal person would have, because she kept them alive long enough to feel it all. Yet it was only a fraction of the pain she'd understood, dealt with day by day, she made sure her fury washed upon them all.

But among the rubble, she saw a man who never should've been there.

"Uncle Kandai!"

She rushed over to the man that had always been so nice to her. A man she thought had moved away, who she thought she'd never see again.

He had returned just in time to see me being dragged off by the men. He had returned because he wanted to take custody of me from my mother.

He told me to call him 'Uncle,' that he was a part of my family by blood or otherwise. But I loved him as a father.

And I killed him.

"Wake up! Please! I didn't mean to!"

She shook him, trying to summon her power again to fix him. She had brought creatures back to life before, healed injuries. But she was drained. Even if she wasn't, she'd only ever brought bugs and small animals back to life at most.

"Wake up!"

She sobbed over the corpse of the man she'd loved, the corpse of the man she'd killed. There was no proper way to identify him anymore. All that remained was a charred humanoid body, laying lifeless after years of agony had been set upon him all at once.

The only thing that hadn't completely burnt to nothing was a single ring on his finger. Carefully, the small girl slid it free and stared at it, remembering the day he'd showed it to her. It was still too big.

She gripped it tightly as she sobbed. She cried herself dry, and even then, she didn't stop.

More men came to take her away. They dragged her off, too tired to break free or use any more power. She screamed for them to let go, but not for her own safety. She didn't want to leave him there to rot away with nothing to remember him. She wanted to give him a proper burial.

But they took her shouting and struggling.

The ring was still held firmly in her grip the entire way.

When the endless years had come to an end, she was fully aged. She would grow no older than 23 on the outside, and so there was no long a way for her to track how long she'd been there. At least 10 years, but after that, there was no way to be sure. By that logic, she could've been there anywhere from 11 to infinite years.

She couldn't be sure whether she had gone insane or not, how far she'd bent, if she'd snapped.

The ring always disappeared when someone came into the room and reappeared when she was alone. It was always within her fist. In her own mind, she had never let go. It was the only thing that kept her alive, she believed. Through all the pain, she felt it within her hand, one way or another. It anchored her. Barely.

When the earth shook, she was jolted from her sleep. She had no sleep cycle, no routine to the torture. Sometimes it would go on longer than normal, sometimes it was calm for longer than normal. She never went to sleep willingly. Her body merely gave out in exhaustion whenever it wanted to, mostly after a torture session.

She heard the roaring of the demons outside, the sounds of them screaming out in pain. The earth rattled from the force of explosions, though her chains held her in place. She had been moved many times, but the room she was currently in had only one door, one exit, one place to see what was happening.

Outside, she saw a man with a glowing blade stab one of the lesser demons that had been watching her cell. There was little point in putting anyone too strong to watch over her, as she'd shown little signs of improvement in her powers. The fact that she had held on so long was their reasoning for continuing. She was strong physically and mentally, and her power was growing as she grew older and her body began growing tolerances.

On some occasions, her form of torture was a survival room, where she had to either do some kind of technique to defeat her enemies - some lesser demons pitted against her - or she'd be punished. She would've normally just given in, as though she wasn't used to punishment already, but her body had other plans, allowing her quick learning of skills and abilities to keep herself alive. Another reason she was still of interest. Demons were patient, and to them, ten plus years must have been nothing compared to whatever they would get out of her fully breaking.

The man with the glowing blade looked into the room before slicing the lock on the door with ease. He walked over and kneeled in front of the broken girl chained to the wall, staring her in the eyes and examining her closely.

She sensed blood different from the demons, though it was still powerful in its own way and definitely not mundane. She'd grown up with her mother, who she knew was mundane, and her aura was nothing compared to all the demons she'd been around. Still, the blood resonated with her in a familiar way, similar to the relationship between her and the demons, but also much different.

He gave her a long, hard glare, before he then stabbed her through the stomach, pinning her to the wall behind her. She coughed up blood and felt her body going numb. She'd been put through more pain over the years than this, but there was no way to become tolerant to being run clean through like a shish-kebab.

But the pain seemed duller than usual. She heard her heartbeat pounding in her ears, felt the sword within her seeming to shoot waves of energy through her body. And it wasn't just agony, it was empowering. Like a drug. Her head swirled, and an unidentifiable voice resonated through her skull.

"Angel blood," The voice informed her. "They shall show you no mercy, my dear. They want you dead and gone. Kill him. Let out your rage. Angels and demons can't compare to what you are. You have the power to protect, the power to destroy. Can you feel the blood within you resonating? You have been exposed to mundanes, demons, and now you are exposed to angels. You are complete."

She felt the pain from the wound in her torso, but she also felt the pulsing of her heart and blood. Eventually, the stinging wound could not longer be felt. Her right eye darkened to be completely black, her right eye brightened to be completely white. Her hair took on matching colors on the respective sides, and her nails and teeth began sharpening. Out of her back, two wings forced their way out, one at her right glowing pure white with light blue accents, the other at her left midnight black with blood red accents.

You are complete.

Over time, Shu had gained control of the transformation. It was rarely ever something she liked showing off, as it was always hard to reverse no matter how much practice she had. To think. If only that man had come and killed her sooner, she might have escaped that place long before her eternity under the demon's torture had broken her.

Shu hadn't transformed for over a millennia. At this point, she didn't think she could anymore. It was relaxing, not even feeling the monster inside her that was her full form. No more fear of letting it all out.

At the same time, she was far from full power without that feeling. The wards that were preventing her from finding Valentine shouldn't have been so effective. Now, the demons were relying on her to keep them safe and stop the rogue Shadowhunter, but she couldn't even make it past such simple protection and cloaking spells.

She twisted the ring at her chest between her fingers while she laid on her bed.

If she was understanding this right, to activate her angelic demon form, she needed to be exposed to pure angelic power and pure demon power around the same time. The first Shadowhunters were closer to the angels than any of the current ones, being the first generation and all, and she had been exposed to the most powerful demons in existence for countless years.

Replicating that wouldn't be easy, and she seemed to be getting rusty without it. It just didn't feel like there was any way to get that power back. She couldn't even remember how it felt.

Well that block is just your own self-doubt, your own fear of what happens when you embrace who you are. Though you've been living as a Downworlder for the past half a millennia, you've been trying to avoid ties to angels and demons, and therefore being unwilling to accept yourself.

"Unwilling to accept myself, huh?"

Magnus was about to walk to his room when he heard a knock on the door. "Hmm."

He walked to the door in curiosity and opened it to find Alec coming through. "Hey."

"Jace here?" He asked, taking off his jacket.

"No. He left hours ago," Magnus said, closing the door. "Are you okay?"

By the time the door was fully close, Alec quickly cupped Magnus's face and planted a kiss onto his lips. Magnus was slightly taken back by the boldness and pulled back.

"Hey, what's this all about? I mean, I'm not complaining, but…"

"I-I just thought…you know, I thought we could…take the next step."

Magnus nodded in realization. "The sex step."

"Yeah."

Magnus put his hands on Alec's shoulders, taking a deep breath. "Alexander…I may be experienced, but…it's rare that I've ever felt this way about someone and…" He opened and closed his mouth, struggling for words. "I worry that once we…" He pulled back and turned away. "That if we rush into this…that I may lose you," He admitted.

"What? Why would you think that?"

He sighed. "Look…you're not the only one that feels vulnerable."

"Magnus…you have nothing to worry about." He stepped forward, forcing Magnus back. "I want this."

With that, he kissed Magnus, taking him back into the other room.

Shu heard screaming. Ithuriel was screaming.

Valentine had an angelic being, a storm was brewing outside.

How did that Shadowhunter get ahold of an angel?

Shu lowered the potency of the soul bond between her and Magnus, a purple bracelet of energy appearing on her wrist but no chain between them. Let Magnus have this night to himself. It was Shu's battle to fight, for demons and angels alike, and he didn't need to be dragged in.

She looked out her balcony window and squinted, searching around for angelic power. She finally found a fight between Clary, Jace, and about a dozen Shadowhunters on a rooftop.

Opening a portal, she jumped through and summoned her sword. Sweeping it in a wide arc, she sliced down half of the Circle members in one sweep, moving to slice down another two. Clary and Jace helped finish the rest of them off, before they moved to break the chains.

"Clary, give me a hand, will you?" Shu requested.

She swung her sword and began cutting through the chains, while Clary held her head as Ithuriel shouted out. Then, she looked up in realization before moving her stele to the chains binding the angel's wrists.

"What's happening?" Jace asked. "What are you doing?"

"He's communicating with me."

"He's…wh-?"

She drew a rune and it burned through the enchanted chains, Shu ripping free the rest of them before Ithuriel was able to pull his wrists apart on his own. His wings spread as he looked up to the sky, but then he held out his hands for Clary and Jace to take.

They did so curiously, before Ithuriel showed them a vision of the Soul Sword falling into a field with a clang, before a dark being moved to grab it, runes activating along the blade, before both it and the demon shattered to dust and blew away in the wind.

"What was that?" Clary asked.

Ithuriel gave no answer, instead releasing their hands and transforming to light, shooting back up into the sky.