It's rushed and sloppy, but this is the final chapter until April when season 3 comes out (Yaaay!) so enjoy. The story will be marked as complete, but I'll reopen it or start a new story once all of season 3 has come out and I can get back to work again (though I might add a little extra of my own storyline in an extra chapter after this).
Until then, enjoy, review, etc., :)
Shu's eyes went white. "Raziel is awake."
"What?"
"I must go."
Before they could protest, she vanished in a flash of light.
"It has been a thousand years since I was last summoned to this place. Why do you summon me now, Nephilim?"
"My Lord, Raziel, the great men and woman in the lineage of Shadowhunters, which you have created here, have failed in their mission to rid this world of demon scum."
"I see you are impatient. What is it you ask of me?"
"The immediate death of all evil blooded creatures, demon and Downworlder alike, as well as the disloyal Shadowhunters who protect them."
"The destruction of the souled creatures of the Downworld, and of our own Nephilim, that is not heaven's wish," He said, but a second voice mixed with his.
Shu walked forward, her eyes changing to pure white and black. She walked across the water, her bare feet merely tapping the surface and allowing her to float above, her white dress waving in the wind with the black accents and tint flowing down. She stopped beside Raziel, and spoke with his voice.
"But thou who spills thy blood, thou shalt compel from me, an action."
Valentine smiled and moved to grab his knife and cut into his palm, but Shu waved her hand and Clary's wrists were freed from the shackles Valentine had restrained her with. Raziel dimmed as Clary grabbed Valentine, throwing him away.
As he got up to fight her once more, she knocked his weapon away, and punched him in the face. She move to attack him all she could, kicking and punching with all her might, but Valentine parried her weak and predictable attacks with ease, tossing her back with just a single punch of his own.
"I see we are forever fated to meet," Raziel said.
"I see no reason we shall ever stop," Shu responded. "I have been made by the blood of every angel and every demon in existence, and I only grow stronger. Yet I have attempted to delay the fate of such a creation that would lose control."
"At the least, your quarrels are not rash and it has been a long time since you last lost your wits. You are complete."
"I will never be complete. But perhaps that is a good thing."
"I've worked too long and sacrificed too much to let anyone stand in my way," Valentine declared, grabbing a rock while Clary was down. "Even my own daughter."
Clary looked to the side and saw Valentine's knife. Just as he was about to throw the rock her way, she rolled out of the way, snatched up the weapon, and sliced him across the neck. She stood and then stabbed him in the stomach. Her father fell to his knees, holding his neck, and she looked him in the eye before stabbing him again and again until she kicked him away.
She watched as he died, before running over to the lake, cutting her hand, and letting the blood flow down into the water.
"Angel-blooded one," Raziel and Shu said together.
"I don't want Downworlders to die," Clary said frantically. "Please, you can't let them die! I want another wish."
"You may compel me to one action, Clarissa Morgenstern. What is it that you ask?"
Clary hesitated. "You know my name."
"Concern yourself not with what I know, but rather what can be. If you have a desire, ask me now. And be wise. I will grant but one."
She paused, looking back to the fallen Jace. "Jace…bring Jace back, please!"
The angel said nothing, before he disappeared in a flash of light, darkening the lake to night once more.
Shu walked forward, still in her ethereal form, and kneeled beside Jace, tapping him as a small glow illuminated him and then faded away.
Clary rushed over to him while Shu took a step back. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, Jace's head slowly began to move, shifting to look up at Clary as his eyes cracked open. Clary broke out into a smile of relief, cupping his face.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
"Oh my god…" She muttered.
Jace looked and saw Valentine, before looking back to Clary. "What happened?"
"You're alive…" She smiled.
She helped him sit up.
"Valentine raised the angel. I used the wish to bring you back."
"You could've had anything else in the world…and you chose me."
"I don't want anything else in the world."
"Bringing people back…there's always a consequence."
"Not this time. This is a miracle. Okay? It's a gift. Granted by the angel."
"Never think you're blessed, girl," Shu warned. "Every gift from divine intervention has a cost."
She walked over and looked to the lake, while Alec, Izzy, and Magnus all arrived to find the dead Valentine.
"They're okay!" Alec called in disbelief, seeing Jace and Clary.
"Actually, they're more than okay," Izzy said.
The two of them rose to their feet.
"Jace, I…" Alec began. "I thought you were dead. Our rune…it disappeared."
"Look at it now."
Alec pulled up his shirt to reveal that it was there, as if it had never been gone. "How?"
Jace hesitated. "I don't know."
"It's over now," Shu called, her angelic demon form fading.
"Yeah," Jace agreed, moving to hug Alec in relief.
"Raziel's appearance fed me the angelic energy that I'd been lacking for the past millennia," Shu explained. "I've been living with the mundanes and the demon world for so long and avoiding Shadowhunters for the most part that I had so little left in me it made me unstable. The Demon Queen wanted to break out of Edom through me, reclaim my power and her full strength while simultaneously nullifying all the pity for angels within my heart, bring our souls to the demon side. But thanks to Raziel, I was cleansed before she could accomplish her goal. The only reason I managed to keep the Demon Queen within me and make sure I didn't go insane before he could help was because of this."
She pulled her ring from under her shirt. "Angelic power safe for demons. I never questioned it. I never needed to. Turns out, it was given from an angel to a demon as a wedding band. Over the years, it was the one and only time an angel and a demon had ever fallen in love. Seems perfect for me, really."
"I'm just glad you're doing okay. And you're not going psycho on me."
"I would never kill my own brother."
"That is debatable."
She shrugged. "Yeah, it is. But I will try my best."
"Has the evil voice inside you stopped yet?"
"She's settled down. But maybe that's because she's growing on me. She's still there, but I'll handle her."
"As long as I'm not getting the crazies from it anymore."
"Yeah. You were going all Alec on me. When he was going on his non-rule-breaking streak and being that scary dude. Before he was willing to open up to you, of course. He was afraid of who he was. You changed that about him. And you shouldn't be letting him go like this. This war is over. You still protected him from that demon even though you were angry, and the whole reason you were angry is only because you loved him and you feared he didn't love you back. I think he's proven himself. He's learned his lesson. Make up with him, okay? You'll have an eternity to regret if you don't."
Luke popped open a champagne bottle and it exploded, people laughing and backing up to avoid the drink. Everyone cheered and some raised their glasses to it, the Hunter's Moon filled to the brim with Downworlders and Shadowhunters.
"To the Downworld!" Luke shouted.
"To the Downworld!"
"To the Shadowhunters!"
"To the Shadowhunters!"
Everyone took their drinks and scattered to the party once more.
"And it seems this ordeal has finally gotten you into drinking."
"Dude, I can speed up my metabolism so that I feel none of it."
"I stand corrected," Magnus said, sipping his cocktail.
"You know, for a long time, I believed I either had to be on the demon's side or the angel's side. When I tried to stay out of it, I just got dragged back in. I was so tired of having to choose. But maybe I don't have to. Maybe the Downworld and the Shadowhunters can work together, even if the angels and demons can't. If my uncle is anything to go by, maybe they'll get there too."
"Hey," Alec said, walking over.
"Hey," Magnus said, without his anger this time.
"You look like you got your energy back."
"My go-to home remedy after a major magic-depletion: boiling hot bath, eight ounce steak - medium rare - and…a lot of these."
He took a sip of his drink.
"I can agree with that," Shu said. "Though, a little less of these and more tea would be better. But Mags does what he wants and I do what I want."
"Any sign of demons?" Magnus asked.
"None," Alec said. "Sensor maps are completely clear of wraith demons. It's the strangest thing. It's like they…"
"Disappeared into thin air?" Shu offered.
"Yeah. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"I'm handling them. They'll stay away if they know what's good for them."
"Well, then we can take this moment," Magnus said. "To celebrate."
He held up his glass and Alec clinked his beer bottle to it. Magnus drank, and Alec moved his bottle to his mouth, but stopped before he actually drank.
"Can we talk?" He asked.
Magnus hesitated, looking to Alec's face, before he nodded. "Yeah."
Alec paused, before nodding and heading to the door.
Magnus downed the rest of his drink, before Shu stole the glass. "Make up. You both deserve happiness. People like Alexander don't come around every day. Don't push him away because of one mistake."
She shoved him towards the door and walked back into the mix of people.
Magnus walked out to find Alec with his back turned a little further down the alley. He sighed and walked forward to meet him. He wasn't sure how he wanted this to go, nor could he predict what was going to happen.
"Magnus, I'm sorry," Alec said.
"Don't apologize."
"No, I should've told you about the Soul Sword."
"It's in the past."
Alec took a deep breath. "Magnus, ever since our…fights, I…I can't…I can't think straight."
Magnus shook his head, trying to keep his cool. "Well, I can't do anything without…thinking of you."
Alec stepped forward. "Magnus, I…I don't think I can live without you."
Magnus hesitated. "I-I-I thought I had to choose, between you and the Downworld…but I don't. And a wise man once told me…relationships take effort."
Alec smiled. "Yeah. Well, that was an understatement."
Magnus chuckled. "You know what's not an understatement?"
He stepped forward and kissed him.
"I'm…all into parties, but, uh…what do you say we get out of here?"
Alec nodded with a smile. "Yes."
In a cave, the demons swirled around, conglomerating into the shape of a woman.
She kneeled down to the fallen Jonathan Morgenstern.
"I brought him for you, dear Lilith. Though he looks a bit under the weather."
"Oh…" She brushed her fingers across his face. "I'm here now, son."
"I see you took the opportunity to make a statement by allowing all of your demons to be seen, only for them to disappear off the radar. The Shadowhunters will be suspicious. At the very least, my entrance was subtle. Little Shu thinks the lack of my conscious within hers is merely because of her stabilization of angel power. Fool. I think it's time to have some fun in this world."
She walked deeper into the cave in a closed off area, heaving a boulder out of the way. Inside the closed off room, two men were bound and gaged, one completely knocked out and the other jumping upon seeing her.
She smiled, her eyes slitting and her teeth sharpening. "Shall we get started, boys?"
Shu slipped outside, happy that the back alley was empty. She leaned against the wall and lit a cigarette. It wasn't so much that she was addicted to them now, she couldn't get addicted to mundane things, but it gave her something to do while she stood in the silence. She was getting used to being around larger group of people, as well as parties, but, as always, she was the one who went to stand on her own in the quiet of outside. At least if someone saw her, now she had an excuse.
"Hey."
Charon appeared in his cloud of smoke. "How are you?"
"Better."
"I'd assume the cigarettes back your case."
She blew a ring of smoke. "I'm just using them as an excuse if someone asks why I'm out here. At least I look like I'm doing something. I still don't like parties."
He smiled. "I know you don't. But I like that about you."
She smiled and they both laughed to each other.
Charon took a deep breath and stuck his hands in his pockets. "So. Can I still come visit you whenever now that you're stable?"
"It's not like I was going to be able to keep you away in any case."
He smiled. "True, but I still would've kept my distance until absolutely necessary."
Shu flicked her cigarette and then tossed it to the ground, crushing it beneath her heel. "Chare…do you think I'm still angry at you?"
He shrugged. "Not really. I mean, maybe things are still a bit awkward between us, and no longer as intimate, but it's not like you're angry anymore."
"I was just wondering why you haven't tried to reestablish the relationship we lost."
"Then I'd just sound clingy and like I'm taking advantage of you. I lied to you, I got close to you because of orders, not out of the kindness of my heart. Our entire relationship was based on lies. Even I'm not sure what's real about us anymore."
"Well, what do you say we start over? Make a new relationship without any lies. If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But at least then we'll know that it was the real us that didn't work out, and not fakes that did."
"I don't know. You may be part demon, but you smell really angelic right now, after that whole Raziel thing. Anything with angel blood is destined to be the enemy of something with demon blood."
"Then you clearly haven't met my brother and his Shadowhunter boyfriend."
"They're not pure, like us. I have no mundane within me, and you have very little compared to the power of your blood now that it's grown stronger over the years. We're a lot more unstable, and you've seen how unsteady the relationship between Shadowhunters and Downworlders is already, merely half-breeds. You're making connections, but the majority still pose problems, and any alliance made is shaky."
"My uncle, the man whose face you're using, he was a Greater Demon who fell in love with an angel."
"What?"
"I know. But…my ring, the ring I got from him. Angelic power safe for demons to use."
"Something like that would've had to have been forged by an angel, since no demon would be able to utilize such angelic power without some kind of willing consent…and if a powerful angel made it specifically for a demon…and when I used it…it was specifically made for a Greater Demon's powers."
She nodded. "Yeah. So…maybe it isn't impossible for angels and demons to get along. Just really hard."
"Do you know the angel that your uncle fell in love with?"
"Ren'ai, apparently. But I've never heard of him."
"He? Man, you're surrounded by homosexuals."
"Maybe I'm secretly a guy in disguise. But in any case, it's not like genders matter to higher beings anyway. They can choose what gender they take when in physical form, and that includes you. And Magnus is bisexual, so it's just the 50/50 chance that the person he fell the hardest for so far is Alexander. My mundane blood has kept me a female for the majority of my life, being my original form that I grew up with as a default, but it's not like I can't shift yet. I've learned over the years, and patriarchal, male-dominated societies aren't encouraging. Not to mention the witch trials. Those weren't fun either."
"In any case, I hadn't even heard of your uncle back then either. I never knew a Kandai. Maybe that's because Lily was making so many demons that it was hard to keep track. But when you were made, that provoked some of the first Shadowhunters to be created. They were purposefully let into Edom in order to attack the palace and you, but we defeated the rest of them. That's when Razz made the actual Shadowhunters and decided to make them fight the demons in the mundane world, not the demon world. They got smarter about vanquishing us, but the damage was already done."
"I guess they were ostracized for falling in love. They eloped, so maybe that's why we've never heard of them, their names lost to time, maybe erased on purpose. As well as the amazing accomplishment of what they did. They fell in love, and I think it was real. Something as impossible as that…lost to history."
"So…maybe we can put it in the books again?"
"I think…maybe it's worth the try."
She reached out and took his hand, and she led him on a walk through the city.
Maybe it was just the moonlight, but Charon could've sworn there were some silver strands peeking out through her dark black hair.