AN:: Yay! Another chapter, finally! Hope you guys like this one too. I'm working really hard to make sure the plot makes sense and there's no cracks and stuff in it. Please tell me if you find one, I'll be glad to go back and attempt to fix it. Thanks for reading, love ya'll and enjoy!
Jace groaned, Sebastian had beat Jace for half an hour before he finally fell unconscious. Everything hurt all over, he was pretty sure that Sebastian had fractured a rib. Jace had tried to curl up into a ball but any movement sent a giant tremor of pain through his body. He was pretty sure he was going to pass out when the cellar door burst open, and Sebastian hurried in with medical supplies. His green eyes full of anger. The smaller boy could only assume that meant that Father was coming home. Right before Father came home Sebastian would pretend to be the loving older brother Father though he was, and bandage Jace up right as Father would walk through the door.
"Get up!" Sebastian snapped. "Father's coming home early and you need to look decent!"
Jace attempted to get up but quickly gasped as pain shot through his body. Sebastian rolled his eyes and drug Jace out of the cellar, not to gently, sat him in a chair, and began to work on bandaging his little brother up. "If Father asks, we got into a fight, you ran off into the woods like always, climbed a tree, and fell. I found you and have been ever so lovingly taking care of you." Sebastian hissed in Jace's ear. The younger boy really didn't need to be told this, it was the usually routine. Lie to Father about how Jace go beat up. Tell him that Sebastian was the loving brother Father thought he was. It never changed
Right at that moment Valentine Morgenstern, Father, walked through the doorway. "Boys I'm home!" he called, turned, to look at Jace and almost did a double take. "Jace what happened?!" he exclaimed, rushing toward his youngest son's side. Sebastian gave an indignant huff, and Jace realized that his older brother had a split lip, black eye, and a few more bruises. He must have done that to himself like always. So the idea of an almost fair fight had happened, because Jace was never in the position to fight back, and to try to get Father's attention. It never worked. Usually because Jace was more beat-up then Sebastian ever was.
"Nothing." Jace said, trying not to sound sarcastic. 'Best stick to the script' he thought, "Seb and I got into a fight, like always. Well I ran into to the woods, climbed a tree really high and fell. Don't worry Seb's been taking good care of me." Jace knew his father wasn't going to question his story. This happened almost daily. The two brothers 'got into a fight' and then the smaller boy would run off into the woods of their backyard. Well actually Jace had been jumping the fence since he was able to, but they didn't need to know that.
Father looked at Sebastian. He was schooling his oldest son's face and bruises. "Sebastian, you have to look out for Jace. You know how clumsy he is." that's what Sebastian called it, 'clumsy'. Jace was actually very graceful. Clumsy is just the excuse Sebastian had made up any time Jace 'fell down the stairs'. Jace could hear Sebastian mumble a "yes Father" under his breath.
As Father came to inspecting Jace's ribs, Jace couldn't help but let out a painful gasp. Valentine frowned. "Jace, how far did you climb into that tree? It looks like you have a couple broken ribs." Valentine paused to further inspect Jace. "And a broken wrist and a sprained ankle." 'Uh-oh!' Jace panicked. Father was getting suspicious.
"Well, I, accidentally fell down the stairs again. And I tripped on a tree root running. And when I fell I landed on my wrist." Jace said quickly, hoping it was convincing. And he really did trip when he was running. The other stuff. Sebastian bent his wrist back until it snapped and pushed Jace down the stairs, before Jace finally managed to get up and run for cover. Sebastian never followed Jace into the woods. Jace didn't know why but he hoped that Sebastian wouldn't start. That's why he was so jumpy when he met Clary.
Thankfully Father seemed to by Jace's alibi. "Jace," Valentine said, sounding exasperated. "You have to be more careful. You could get seriously hurt." Jace tried not to role his eyes. He was careful. If he wasn't he would already be dead by now. But he just nodded his head in agreement.
"Sebastian, go and get some more bandages and pain-killers from the hall closet." Valentine instructed, and he began to wrap Jace up. Jace tried to avoid eye contact with Sebastian as he sulked off to do as Father had told him. Jace knew that the more attention Father spent with him, the angrier it made Sebastian. Jace was the 'baby' in the family and that seemed to be where most of Father's attention went when he was home. Sebastian felt that he was being neglected and often tried to get Father's attention by hurting himself. But Father never really paid that much attention. Sebastian was never willing to beat himself up badly enough for the attention he wanted. Jace was always Father's first concern since 'Sebastian was old enough to take care of himself'.
Although Father's touch was gentle and soothing, it didn't stop the pain. Jace tried not to show how much it hurt to avoid more attention, but was unsuccessful. By the time Sebastian returned Father was almost done, and Jace was all wrapped up in bandages. Father gave him some pain killer, and carried Jace up to his room. Jace could feel Sebastian glaring daggers into his back with his emerald green eyes. Jace shivered. When Father finally left he would be in for it.
"Dad, it's okay. I can go up to my room myself." Jace said struggling to pry himself out of his Father's arms. And then he froze. He had just called Father Dad. He hadn't called Father that since was five. Ever since Sebastian had hit him. Although Father seemed to like it, Sebastian said it made Jace weak. The real reason was, it took all of Father's attention from Sebastian. Sebastian had told Jace he never called Father 'Dad' so neither could Jace. Jace noticed as soon as he started calling Father Father, Valentine seemed almost hurt. Jace suspected Valentine liked to sort-of baby Jace.
Valentine gave a small smile, gently shook his head, and said "No, Jace. It's fine. I've got you." Jace sighed and let his father carry him up to his room. Jace would never admit it, but he missed Father's love and care. He could also feel Sebastian's anger and Jace was pretty sure Sebastian was plotting on revenge. Father also must have given Jace some sleeping medicine because by the time Father had gotten to Jace's room, Jace was feeling rather drowsy, was fighting to keep his eyes open, and could barely think clearly.
Valentine tucked him in and Jace, not meaning to, mumbled "I love you Daddy." Valentine smiled, ruffled Jace's hair, and then gently kissed Jace on his forehead. "I love you too, buddy" he whispered into his son's ear. Jace suddenly realized the horror of his situation before falling into a deep, peaceful, dreamless sleep.
When Jace woke up, it took him a full minute to realize that Sebastian was in the room. And he was glaring right at Jace. And if looks could kill, well, the whole human population would be dead about ten times over. Jace could feel chills go down his spine. "So," Sebastian hissed, the words stung like snake venom. "Thought it would be fun to play baby did you?"
"Seb, I really didn't-" Jace started.
"Don't' give me any of that crap!" Sebastian snapped, Jace was pretty sure he was dead. "I know it isn't true! Do you thing I'm stupid?!" Jace flinched, he was so totally dead. Sebastian took a couple deep breaths, Jace was pretty sure Sebastian was trying to keep from strangling his adopted brother. "Lucky for you, Father has insisted on staying home until you've 'mended'"
Jace gulped. When Father left he was dead. He was about to explain to Sebastian that he honestly didn't mean to call Father 'Dad' when Valentine Morgenstern opened the door and stuck his head in. he smiled when he saw that Jace was awake. "Hey, Buddy, how're you doing?" he asked. Valentine sat at the edge of the bed and ruffled Jace's hair. Jace decided to avoid Sebastian's gaze.
"Err, good Father." Jace said, avoiding eye contact. Jace could feel Father stiffen beside him. Jace had been correct. Father did like to baby him. And now he was upset that Jace was pushing away.
"Well, that's good. I'll be staying home a few days until you get better okay?" Father said, getting up. Jace just nodded as Father left the room. Leaving him alone with Sebastian.
"Well" sneered Sebastian, once Father had closed the door. "I hope you're happy, because when Father leaves again, I'm going to kill you. Slow and painfully and make it look like an accident." Jace didn't look up and Sebastian left the room in a huff. Jace buried his head in his hands. He was in deep trouble.
Clary sat under the same tree she had met Jace at. She sighed, that had been two weeks ago. She was starting to believe if she had just imagined the boy in the first place purely from her fantasy and boredom. Although she remembered what Jace had told her about them never seeing each other, she had thought he was, well not joking but, not being serious to say in lack of other words. A few times she had even gone up to the fence at the edge of the property to see if Jace was just scared to hop it again, but he never showed.
Clary began to wonder if Jace had gotten into trouble. She hadn't told anyone about their little encounter, but she supposed he might've gotten in trouble for something else. Besides, Clary didn't even know how often Jace came into the woods. She was always out and just two weeks ago had she run into Jace. Perhaps they had just moved, or maybe Jace didn't usually come during the day and snuck away at night. Clary would never dream of trying to sneak out of the house after bedtime. Not only would she be caught, but her mother would kill her. Well there when what could be her only hopes of seeing Jace again.
The small redheaded girl looked desperately in the direction her friend had headed off to, hoping he would perhaps stumble into the small clearing. No, he wouldn't be coming. Clary could somehow sense that her friend wouldn't be coming today either. An idea crossed her mind. 'No,' she thought, 'that's too dangerous'. She stopped to think further on her idea. How much trouble could she get from hoping the fence? It sounded like Jace did it all the time. It couldn't be that hard could it? It had to be at least worth a try.
Clary set off in the direction Jace had disappeared in and soon came upon the fence that he had presumably jumped. On further observation Clary figured she could probably just slide through the gap between the boards, and she did. There s a small path that Jace had probably made leading from his house and the small redheaded girl set off to follow it
Jace was out in the back yard with Sebastian. Father was getting ready to leave again, thinking Jace was well enough to be left in the care of Sebastian. Of course Jace nor Sebastian would tell him that leaving the two boys alone together was a death wish on the younger one, but Jace really wanted to. He wanted to tell Father everything, what Sebastian did to him, that he was scared and still wanted to be held. He wanted to tell Father everything he wasn't allowed to.
Father had just left and the look on Sebastian's face was scary as heck. Jace knew he was in for it. Sebastian would not let him go for what had happened over the last two weeks. Jace prepared to die, accepting that there was no way things could end differently. He was going to suffer a very painful, slow death at the hands of his older brother, someone who was supposed to protect him from people that Sebastian was getting ready to do to him.
Jace supposed that he was seeing his life flash before him, most of it consisted of beating by Sebastian. Then it almost seemed to slowdown when Clary showed up, just two weeks ago. Jace could almost feel a smile tugging at his lips, thinking about her. He remembered the small redheaded girl finding him in the woods that day. Jace missed her, whether he would admit it or not, he did. Even though he had only talked to her for maybe five minutes, Jace could tell she had genuinely meant well and he had wanted to be friend with her. With Sebastian as his only main company, Clary was a blessing from heaven.
'You've got to stop thinking about her!' he told himself. 'She's already forgotten about you like you told her to. Quit wasting time thinking about her!' But Jace couldn't help himself. He wished he had stayed there longer, talked to Clary, maybe made a new friend. Unfortunately Jace couldn't, Sebastian would've killed him and if Clary had told her parents about the strange who she found beat in the backyard, Jace would be taken away from Father and placed in a foster family, and possibly with Sebastian. Father wasn't the one Jace was trying to get away from.
"ready to die yet?" Sebastian hissed and Jace sighed, the younger boy didn't even have to respond before the first punch was thrown and Jace was knocked to the ground. Sebastian was begin a lot rougher than he usually was and Jace wondered how he was going to make this look like an accident. Another hit came and Jace swore he heard a crack of his ribs breaking again. At this rate, Sebastian would probably beat him to death within ten minutes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something flash in the light. The horror hit him that Sebastian had a pocket knife.
Was Sebastian really going to kill him like that? The small boy was surprised that the older one was taking such a gamble. There was no way Sebastian could pass being stabbed to death as an accident. "No!" someone suddenly shrieks, it took Jace a minute to register the voice, but as soon as he realized who it had come from he bolted up, ignoring the pain in his chest. It was Clary, she was coming out of woods, running towards him. No, Clary, she couldn't be here. Jace would never forgive himself if something happened to her.
Clary had followed the path and sure enough it came to a clearing where a house, a manor house by the looks of it. at first glance it looked like two boys were rough housing in the back yard. the Clary noticed that the older looking boy with white blonde hair was really beat up on the smaller boy, the one with gold hair. It suddenly hit Clary like running into a brick wall. That was Jace, and that's where he got the bruises. Clary wondered if that was the reason she hadn't seen him in two weeks.
Then Clary saw the flash of the knife. "No!" she cried running towards them. Jace saw her and she saw panic flood his eyes. The older boy's whipped around at the speed of light when Clary yelled. Clary almost stopped dead in her tracks. The look on his face was murderous and Clary began to fear for her life, even worse she feared for Jace's life. Now she wasn't so certain that Jace was getting beaten up by his father. Somewhere, Clary doesn't know where, she summoned the courage to yell. "Leave him alone!" she cried again, still running towards them.
"Where did you come from?!" the boy asked incredulously, almost more surprised than angry. Clary braced herself but the boy didn't move towards her. Jace had managed to sit up, but he was obviously in pain. The boy turns back to Jace, "what is this?!" he demands and kicks Jace hard, knocking him back down. Jace curls up into a boy trying to protect himself and it takes Clary a second to register what he was doing.
"Stop! You're hurting him!" Clary yells, the boy just laughs. Desperately Clary made a reach for the knife. She could feel the blade cut her hand, but she had succeeded in taking the knife from him. The boy pushes her back and Clary wonders if he's noticed she took the knife. Blood dripped down her hand, but the cut wasn't terribly deep and Clary didn't care anyway, she was more worried about Jace. "Jace!" she cried.
Jace was barely able to register Clary grabbing the knife from Sebastian. "Clary, you've got to get out of here" Jace just barely managed to croak out. The golden haired boy did his best to distract his older brother, Clary had to get away before she got hurt. Thankfully Sebastian seemed more interested in killing Jace than the missing pocket knife. Hopefully Clary would take the hint and leave before Sebastian turned his attention to Clary and she got hurt.
"Shut up!" Sebastian yells at the younger boy laying on the ground and kicks him again. Jace feels his vision go blurry, he fights to stay awake but he's loosing the battle and black spots dance in front of his eyes. The last think he remembered seeing was Sebastian turning toward Clary before everything went completely black.