What happened to Magnus and Max? What did the others see? Is Alec really healed from this horrible nightmare? Let's find out!
Chapter Eight.
Rafael Santiago Lightwood-Bane was a very strong boy. He was so strong in fact that when he lived back in Argentina with the other children, he thought he never cared that no one really loved him. He thought that it did not matter to him that no one would ever care for him the way that people cared for family. But then he saw Alec Lightwood in the Shadow Market and thought that maybe someone would care about him. Maybe he could get someone to care about him if he just did everything right. But it turned out that all Rafe had to do was be himself and Alec wanted him just the same. He wanted to save him but more than that, he wanted to care about him. He wanted Rafe to like him. And after a while, Rafe really did like Alec. He loved his dad more than he loved almost anyone other than Papa and sometimes Max, but most of the time Max just annoys him with silly games and talk of being a shadowhunter.
Rafe was strong when Alec brought him home and Magnus already started making a room for him and then he thought that it might all get taken away. There were a few moments when he thought that he had been too mean to Alec, that he wouldn't want to keep him because of it but then he saw Magnus and knew that he just had to stay here. He was strong when the youngest of the Blackthorns cried over his sister. He was strong when he thought he had to play with a little boy that was confused and sad and told him that everything was going to be okay. He was strong again when he saw Dad come home today and he was acting so strange. He was afraid and clearly off but Rafe put on a brave face and didn't bother trying to figure it out. He was even stronger when Dad ran back into his bedroom and Papa started acting strange. He was stronger than ever when he was standing in the circle, giving his Dad his energy. But when Dad staring calling out for Max and not Rafe, he was not strong anymore. He was scared. Didn't Dad love Rafe just as much as he did Max? Didn't Dad want Rafe just as much as he wanted his other son?
This is when Rafe was not strong at all. This is when Rafe was weak and selfish. The bond was broken when Papa and Max finally ran out of energy and everyone fell down. Rafe looked up to find everyone gathering their thoughts, checking on each other and talking in hushed voices. No one really knew what to say or do. Rafe hated that feeling. But then he sat up and turned to Papa, who was holding Max in his arms and felt afraid and far away. He felt so far away in fact that he wanted to run fast and hard away from his family. He doesn't want anything to do with them. They love Max. They are holding Max. Dad even called out for Max, not him. They don't want him. They just want Max.
Well that's fine. They can have him.
Rafe stands up with a look of horror spreading across his face as he staggers backwards away from the crowd. He falls back against the wall and looks around at the quiet crowd speaking in hushed voices. They are talking to everyone but him, which makes him feel even worse.
"Alec," Aunt Isabelle says, being the first to speak. She sits up and crawls over to the bed, pulling herself up onto it. She drags herself over to her brother and hovers above him, looking down him. Dad is breathing as heavily as if he just came running here. His eyes are flicking from person to person as the relief floods over him. He pushes himself to sitting but falters and leans back as if he is about to fall. Aunt Izzy catches him with one arm and he quickly wraps his arms around her. In a long, crying hug the both of them are clasping onto each other. He has never seen Dad so desperate. He had never seen his Dad need someone so badly. He had seen Dad and Papa hug. He had even seen Dad sad when his own father died. But now Dad looked desperate. He is clinging to his sister with everything he has, holding onto her with his hands wrapped in her dark shirt, gripping tightly.
"Don't let go," Dad says.
"I won't. You're okay."
Clary wakes slowly. Rafe leans back into the wall, hoping that he will disappear into it. He watches as she looks around the room and her eyes fall on her love.
"Jace!" she calls out, grabbing his shoulders. His body is unconscious, partly on the floor and partly on the bed in a slumped mess. His face is grimaced in pain and his hands are loose around Alec where they used to be strong. His left hand is swollen and red where his parabatai broke his fingers from holding on so tight.
"Jace," Clary says again. "Wake up."
Rafe realizes quickly that Papa has not woken up either. Uncle Jace is hurt and Clary can't wake him up. Papa is out too and Max is asleep on his chest, looking peaceful but also completely warn out.
"Clary! Are you okay?" Simon asks, sitting up to look at her. He reaches over and soon everyone is crowded around another person. Everyone except for Rafe. No one is asking him if he is okay. No one is checking on him when in fact he is not okay. He is truly and utterly terrified. He is horrified as he stands away from the crowd.
"Papa! Get Papa up!" Rafe screams, sounding more like a little kid than he meant to. He sounds more like Max than himself but he doesn't care. He needs his Papa and he needs him to wake up.
"Papa! Papa, please get up!" he shouts.
When every person in the room finally looks to Rafe, even Dad, they are confused.
"Why isn't anyone worried about Papa! Dad! Why did you do this? You hurt Papa, Daddy! You hurt Max! Why did you call out to him and not me! Why did you hurt them!" Rafe shouts.
"Rafe!" Dad says quickly, reaching across the bed, across his sleeping lover and son to his angry child. He reaches further, trying to get him to come closer.
"Rafe, come here. Papa is depleted of magic. We're going to help him but can you please come here?" Dad says in that kind familiar tone that Rafe really wants to trust.
"No! No! I don't trust any of you! Get away from me!" Rafe shouts, screaming as he starts to run out. Aunt Izzy is the one to catch him and pull him back in the room. He tries to fight her off but she easily controls his wrath.
"You don't even want me here!" he shouts.
"Stop it, Rafe!" Aunt Izzy shouts. He does not have any strength left. The boy who is always as strong as he can be is now feeling nothing but weakness and fear. Aunt Izzy helps bring him over and sets him down on the bed beside his fathers.
"Of course I want you here. I need you here. I love you," Dad says in a tone that Rafe has always trusted since that first day back in the Argentina Shadow Market.
"You only wanted Max," Rafe says.
"You called out for Max in the end," Aunt Izzy explains. "But from what you said it sounded more like you were talking to our brother."
Alec takes a long breath, looking more tired than she has seen him in a long time. His long face grows sorrowful when he reaches out and brings his son in for a long hug. He holds Rafe just as tight as he was holding his sister. He grips the back of his shirt with his strong fingers and kisses his dark forehead.
"Te amo Rafael," Dad says.
"I love you too, Dad," Rafe assures. "But why did you call out for him?"
"It wasn't your brother. It was mine," Dady says. "I need you here too, Rafe. You just have to trust us."
"Alec," Clary says in a panicked voice, taking them both from their intense hug. "The others…they're not waking up."