Hello again! It's Friday so that means it's time for a new chapter! We're about to end this story, so I really hope you like it! Enjoy!


Chapter 18

Alec closed his eyes, waiting for death to come. Waiting for that fatal blow that would send him to that place of darkness, but neither the blow nor the darkness ever came. It was as if time had frozen for a minute, making Alec's agony even more painful. He had already said his last words, he had already said goodbye. Why was he still alive? He could still hear the beating of his own heart and his ragged breathing. Who had granted him these extra minutes of life? And, why?

Almost as if someone had read his thoughts a voice broke the silence. "Drop your sword." It said.

Alec dared to open his eyes very slowly to see what was happening, to see who had stopped Valentine from killing him. It had been Valentine's very own son—Jonathan.

"Really, Jonathan?" Valentine asked in a mocking tone. "Are you really going to do this to your own father?"

"I said drop it!" Jonathan said with a firm voice.

Valentine laughed and dropped the sword, giving Alec enough time to run to his brother and Magnus's side. They both were on the verge of tears, running toward him in desperation.

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked, as soon as they were a few steps away from each other. The pirate had reached out to touch his arms and face, as if to make sure he wasn't hurt.

Alec had some cuts and bruises from the battle, but he was fine. Better yet, he was alive. "I'm fine." He said, taking Magnus's hand, and giving his brother a reassuring smile. Jace hadn't said anything, but Alec could still see the horror in his eyes. All three of them knew that it had been a close call, a really close one.

"What are you going to do now, son? Kill your own father?" Valentine continued, making his voice echo through the cave.

Alec saw that the pirate was cornered between some rocks with a sword pointed straight at his throat, and not just any sword, but Raziel's sword. A single movement and he was a dead man. "Go on, Jonathan, do it!" Valentine challenged him.

Jonathan tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword and Alec tried not to blink. He didn't know what was going to happen next, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene. Was Jonathan really going to kill his own father?

"You have no one," Valentine continued, "you despise your mother and your sister, and they despise you too. I'm all you have left."

Jonathan didn't answer, but kept the sword firmly against his father's throat. Alec had been so caught up in the moment that he had failed to notice that there was no one but them in the cave. While he had waited for Valentine to kill him, Magnus and Jace had killed the rest of the men left, leaving them in clear advantage against the crazy pirate.

"You're like me, son." Valentine said.

"I'm nothing like you!" Jonathan exclaimed, hitting his father in the face with the hilt of the sword and making him bleed immediately. Cuts near the eyebrows or in the head always bled more.

"He's going to kill him." Magnus pointed out, and Alec nodded.

He had been observing Jonathan too. The young Morgenstern boy had a very determined look on his face despite the fact that he was severely weakened. He was covered in bruises and clearly malnourished, his ragged clothes were too big for his thin self and he was dirty from head to toe. Alec felt sorry for him. That boy had been through hell, there was no doubt about it. He even had a long gash across his left arm that was bleeding profusely.

"He's hurt." Alec said.

"He did it on purpose." Jace added, pointing to the center of the cave.

Alec turned around and noticed why Jace had said that. There, barely standing on the platform was Jonathan Wayland. Alec had already seen him near there a few minutes ago; the boy had been wounded and he had leaned on the rocks to heal himself, but now the boy was actually standing on the platform, letting the blood dripping from his leg to fall all over the mirror. The cup was there too, filled with fresh blood.

Alec remembered what Valentine had done when he had first brought the boys to the cave. He had placed the mirror in front of Michael Wayland's son and the cup in front of his own son, so that just meant that when they had first stolen the treasure, his father, Robert Lightwood, had taken the sword.

"The sword!" He exclaimed. They needed the sword, but Jonathan was using it.

"I'll go get it." Jace said, covering the few steps that separated them from the Morgenstern's.

Alec fixed his eyes on his brother, as if the fact that he was looking at him could keep him safe. Jace pointed his sword at Valentine's throat too and asked Jonathan for Raziel's sword, but the young man refused to give it back.

"We need it." Jace said, and Alec saw Jonathan shaking his head vigorously.

"Jonathan, please." Jace said. There was some sort of familiarity between them, no doubt a consequence of all the months they had shared in captivity.

"No." Jonathan said. And the few seconds it took Jace to turn around to face him, were the two seconds it took Valentine to get a hold on him.

"Jace!" Alec exclaimed, but it was already too late. Valentine had his brother and he was pointing Jace's own sword against his throat.

"I know what you want, Jonathan." Valentine said. "I know you want to be the chosen one. I know you want to posses the same power I once possessed. You're like me, son, you can't deny it. We were cut from the same cloth, and that's why I'm going to teach you a lesson. Never underestimate your enemies. I know you're going to kill me, but I'm not leaving without making you pay. Before you cut my throat I will kill your blood brother and bleed him to death so that you can't summon the Angel anymore. You-"

Valentine's speech was interrupted by laughter—Jonathan's laughter. He was laughing in a way that made Alec flinch. There was malice in it.

"You're so stupid," Jonathan said, "so incredibly stupid. That's why I'm sure we're nothing alike. Do whatever you want, I don't care. I'll get what I want in the end."

"Are you sure you want me to kill him?" Valentine asked, making a small cut in Jace's neck.

"Be my guest…" Jonathan said. "The blood you'd be spilling isn't Raziel's anyway."

"What?" Valentine asked confused.

"We have to shut him up!" Magnus exclaimed, running toward the group of men. Alec followed him, but by the time they arrived, Jonathan was already revealing the truth that they had tried to keep in secret.

"The boy you're currently holding isn't Robert Lightwood's son. He bears his name, but he's not a Lightwood." Jonathan said. "He is." He added, pointing at Alec, with his injured hand.

Alec froze in place. He could feel Valentine's eyes on him. He was almost certain that the pirate was now realizing why Alec had looked familiar to him. Alec resembled his father—Robert Lightwood. Valentine's former Quartermaster.

"So go ahead, kill the boy. I don't care...he's probably going to die anyway when I take over the treasure and control the world."

The next thing happened so quickly that Alec hardly had time to register it before he was moving to assist Jace. Valentine lost control of his temper and screamed in rage, throwing Jace to the ground and stabbing him near the ribs. Jonathan charged against his own father and while they were engaged in combat, Alec and Magnus knelt beside Jace.

Alec didn't know what to do. There was a lot of blood dripping from Jace's wound and Alec felt his whole body shaking with fear and rage.

"Can you breath without pain?" Magnus asked. The pirate had already taken off his jacket and was ripping it into strips, presumably to use them to heal Jace's wound.

Jace nodded.

"Good, then I don't think he has pierced your lungs. I need you to press this hard to stop the bleeding, okay?" Magnus said, and Alec was extremely grateful that the pirate was there. He wouldn't have known what to do if he had been alone.

"Ouch!" Jace complained, when Magnus put more pressure on the wound.

"If you want to live stop complaining, I need to stop the bleeding." Magnus said.

"How do you know how to do this?" Alec couldn't help asking.

"Years of battles, Alexander." Magnus replied, and Alec, despite the anguish he felt, found some sort of comfort in hearing his name on Magnus's lips again.

"There." Magnus said, removing the cloth that was now soaked in blood. "It looks like you were lucky, Commander. He just hit superficial tissue, we can't do much now, but these will keep you alive." He added, putting a new piece of clean cloth over the wound and bandaging Jace with the strips he had ripped before. "Just don't move, okay?"

Jace nodded and Alec breathed again. "Thank you."

"My pleasure, Alexa-" Magnus was saying when Valentine's laughter echoed through the cave. Jonathan had dropped the sword after a bad move.

Alec didn't think it twice and rushed to grab it before the boy could get it back, but Jonathan tackled him.

"What are you doing!?" Alec complained. "We have to end this!"

"I have to end my father first!" Jonathan said, trying to grab the sword, but Alec kicked him and jumped to his feet. Jonathan did the same and lunged at Alec, but before the boy could take more than one step, Magnus arrived and held him back.

Alec hesitated what to do. He knew what had to be done, put the sword where it belonged and offered his own blood, but he also had to help Magnus. He couldn't leave him alone.

Magnus seemed to have read his thoughts because before he knew it, the pirate was sending him away. "Go, and put an end to this! I can take care of him."

Alec hesitated again. "I-I…"

"Go!" Magnus commanded, but Alec could not leave him just like that. Valentine was charging against the pirate too. He could not leave him alone.

"I'll help him." A voice said. It was Jonathan Wayland, who despite his severely injured leg, had made his way to where they were and was already fighting Valentine.

Reassured that Magnus was going to be okay, Alec nodded and ran to the center of the cave, but just as he was about to reach the pedestal, Valentine's Quartermaster, that guy named Malachi, stopped him.

Alec hadn't seen him coming so the blow took him by surprise, making him lose the sword.

o-o-o-o-o

Magnus didn't want to kill Jonathan, he liked to think that the boy was just a victim of the circumstances. His father had surely raised him with stories about him being the chosen one, so he did what he had to do and hit him on the injured arm, making him cry out in pain. The boy dropped his gun and that was when Magnus seized the moment and made a cut on his right leg to incapacitate him.

"Stay there, you little brat! If you know what's good for you, don't you dare to move!" Magnus said, grabbing Jonathan's gun and taking it with him.

Magnus tried to run and assist the other boy, who was fighting alone with Valentine, but they had climbed some rocks and getting there was risky; he could make him lose his concentration and get him killed, so instead, he ran off to check how Jace was doing.

He was relieved to see that the bleeding had truly stopped, the boy was pale from blood loss and was weakened for all the days that he had been in captivity, but he would live and that was what mattered. Magnus would never forgive himself if Alec's brother died, not because he particularly cared about him, after all, the little brat had imprisoned him, but because Alec would suffer and Magnus couldn't take that...all he wanted was for Alec to be happy.

"How are you feeling, Commander?" Magnus asked, checking that the wound was still covered. He had seen pretty nasty injuries in all his years of life, but he knew that any injury, even the smallest one, could get infected if it wasn't kept clean.

"I'm fine, and stop calling me like that, I'm just Jace."

"Well, just Jace, keep the pres-"

"Alec!" Jace exclaimed, pointing to the center of the cave.

Magnus immediately turned around and saw why Jace had reacted that way. There, threatening Alec's life was Valentine's Quartermaster. They were fighting, and Alec was at a disadvantage. For some reason he had lost the sword and was trying to hold Malachi's attacks with his bare hands.

Magnus ran, forcing himself to get there faster than he normally would. He had been unable to do anything when Valentine had cornered him, but not this time. This time he was closer, just a few steps away.

However, by the time he arrived, Alec had everything under control. He had successfully pushed the guy and sent him to crash against the rocks. Now the pirate was lying there unconscious.

"Are you okay?" He asked just to make sure.

"Yeah, but I lost the sword!" Alec informed him. "I'm sure it landed somewhere in here." He added, pointing to the still flooded base of the cave.

They looked, going on opposite sides to cover more ground. Magnus used hands and feet to seek in the water, but it wasn't being easy because there was no light whatsoever and the rocks were all covered in mold, making the surface of the water pitch black.

Magnus kept looking, but he got a bit distracted when he noticed that the young Morgenstern boy was not where he had left him. The stubborn boy had already tackled down the other Jonathan boy and was running toward his father.

"I found it!" Alec exclaimed, raising the sword.

"Do it!" Magnus said, there was no time to waste. "Do it before he kills his own father!"

"Why do you care?" Alec asked.

Magnus refrained from rolling his eyes at Alec. "Because the soul of that poor boy deserves to be saved before it's too late. He's just a victim, do it, Alexander!"

Alec gave him a smile and ran to the platform. Magnus saw him cutting his left arm and putting the now drenched sword next to the other instruments.

The world seemed to stop for a second until a blinding white light illuminated the cave and a nerve-wracking voice began to echo, repeating fragments of the curse and making them all shiver from head to toe.

Magnus locked eyes with Alec. The boy was as surprised as Magnus was.

"The Angel!" Jonathan Morgenstern exclaimed.

There, descending from nowhere and everywhere was Raziel in the flesh.

Magnus had recognized him from the statues that the silent brothers had of him in their churches, but they didn't do him any justice. The real Angel was as intimidating as he was superb.

"Valentine Morgenstern." Raziel called.

His voice sounded weird, it seemed to emanate from everywhere and not just his mouth. "Are you sorry for what you did?" He asked.

There was no reply and Magnus's first thought was that maybe Jonathan had already killed the pirate, but that was not the case. The pirate was still alive, bleeding profusely, but alive. He was leaning against some rocks looking at the Angel, not with awe as they all were, but with resentment.

Raziel looked him in the eye for what felt like an eternity. "I can see inside your heart, Valentine Morgenstern." He stated. "I gave you a second chance and you have wasted it. You may have brought me what I asked you, but you don't harbor any feeling of remorse in you heart. You are not worthy of being saved." He said, and with that, he took an arrow from his quiver and shot it straight into Valentine's heart.

The arrow traveled so fast that Magnus barely had time to see it before it turned to ashes and Valentine stopped breathing.

Magnus gasped. The Angel had just killed Valentine. A heavenly creature had killed a mortal man and suddenly Magnus was afraid for Alec. What if the angel decided to kill him too? What if he killed them all? He wondered, but didn't have much time to think about it because Raziel opened his mouth again and called the boys, summoning them to his side.

o-o-o-o-o

Alec was barely aware of what was happening. The angel had killed Valentine, and that ought to be shocking, but Alec was still in some kind of trance. He didn't know if it was from blood loss or something else, but he felt as if he were witnessing everything from afar, from some place very far away from there.

"Jonathan Wayland, Alexander Gideon Lightwood, Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern." Raziel called.

Alec felt his feet moving as if they had a brain on their own. He could feel a very powerful energy pulling him to the center of the cave, where a golden circle had appeared, protecting the Angel and his instruments.

"Come to me, feel my blood calling you."

Alec walked near him almost immediately; he was very close to him, but found himself stopping just before the golden circle. He felt an unconscious need to step inside and cross that forbidden line, but he was frozen in place, as if Raziel were holding him back.

"I've seen within your hearts," Raziel told them, when the three of them were at his side, "I've seen what you feel, what you think…what you've done." He continued. "You are blessed with my blood, but only one of you will be worthy of my treasure. That whose heart is pure and whose soul knows the meaning of love, forgiveness and repentance. Take a step forward and prove yourselves worthy of the love of God." He instructed them.

Alec hesitated for a minute, that strange hold he had felt a few seconds ago was gone. He felt like himself again, and he noticed that the two others boys felt the same way; Jonathan Morgenstern looked eager to step into the circle, but Jonathan Wayland not so much, he was eyeing the circle with hesitation...just like Alec was doing.

Alec took a deep breath, and before facing whatever was about to happen, glanced to his left, where Magnus and Jace were. But he couldn't see them clearly; the light was really blinding, making everything that was beyond the halo very blurry. He smiled at them, hoping they could see him and took a step, closing his eyes for courage.

When he opened them again, he met face to face with Raziel's golden eyes. He had been the only one able to cross the line. The other two boys were looking at him from outside the circle; Jonathan Wayland with a soft smile on his lips, and Jonathan Morgenstern with a deadly look. He was even protesting, trying to cross and grab the instruments, but the circle kept pushing him back.

"Take what's yours." Raziel said, eying the instruments.

Alec only looked at them. He couldn't just take them, could he? It was wrong. Besides, what if the circle had failed and he was not the owner? He could condemn himself like his father had done once. And, how was he going to get someone to break the curse for him? It wasn't in his plans to reproduce. It was kind of a hard task for him if he considered that for that he needed a woman. If he ended up cursed, he would be doomed for whatever remained of his life.

"Don't be afraid." The Angel said, but Alec didn't move. His mother always said, better safe than sorry, and he had always listened to his mother.

"These belong to you." Raziel insisted. "They were entrusted to me when this world was created. I, as the Keeper of Secrets, became the guardian of God's Treasure: the power of man's will, the vitality of all living beings, and the force of nature itself. When Lucifer betrayed God and the existence of these powers were revealed, I had to hide them here in your world, putting them at the disposal of mortals. It was a great price to pay since whoever possesses them will have the power to control and change the world at will, but it was worth it."

Alec looked at Raziel. He had heard the story thanks to Jonathan's text, but listening to the Angel telling it himself was another thing.

"Since I couldn't hide them in their natural form, I decided to create these objects. A set of three mortal instruments that if used together can make one the master of the world. A sword, to control man's will, a cup, to drink the vitality of all living beings, and finally the mirror, to capture the force of nature itself."

Alec looked at the instruments. He could see the power emanating from them. It was as if they had life on their own.

"Only someone whose heart has been tempted, but not corrupted can withstand so much power. You have proven yourself worthy of this honor, Alexander. Take what's yours."

Alec came closer and grabbed them, taking the sword with his left hand and the cup and the mirror with the right. They weren't heavy, but the sensation of holding them was overwhelming. If he weren't feeling what he was feeling, he would have laughed at how unrealistic this whole scene looked, but amazingly, it was all true. Alec could feel the immense power of the instruments already running through his veins.

It was so intense that he even felt dizzy. It was something he had never felt before.

Alec looked up and found the Angel's golden eyes looking back at him.

"What am I supposed to do?" Alec asked, not knowing what he had to do with them.

"They are yours to do whatever you want. What do you want to do with them, Alexander?"

Alec pondered the idea for a minute. The power was intoxicating, he couldn't deny it. He knew deep within himself that if he wanted, he could do whatever he pleased, but that wasn't right. No one should have that much power over anything.

"I don't want them." Alec said firmly. He saw the ghost of a smile on Raziel's defined features.

"You can't reject what's yours by right." Raziel said, and Alec began to protest. "However," the Angel shut him, "you can decide what to do with them."

Alec looked at the instruments and then at Raziel. "These can't go back to wherever you had them in the first place, right?"

Raziel shook his head.

Alec meditated for a minute. If he left them in the cave there would always be people trying to possess them, and that only meant more chaos, curses and death. So he only had one option: he had to destroyed them. It was for the best.

"Nobody deserves to have this much power," Alec explained, "besides, this treasure has only brought death and destruction. I want to...I want to destroy them."

Raziel nodded and walked over to Alec. "Are you sure this is what you want?" He asked.

Alec flinched, but nodded nonetheless.

"Put them where they belong, then." Raziel said, and Alec did what he was told to. "When I leave, they will be destroyed along with this island. Don't be afraid for your life or the lives of those whom you love, you'll have enough time to go."

Alec nodded, suddenly a bit afraid of what he had done. What if they couldn't escape? What if they sunk along with the island?

"Alexander…" Raziel said firmly and looking straight into Alec's eyes, "whatever you do, whatever path you choose for your life, know that you will have my protection. When you decided to destroy what I gave you, you freed me...I'll never forget that. I'm in debt with you." He added, ascending into the same blinding light and disappearing from view.

Alec looked up, he could no longer see the angel, but he knew he was still there.

"Be good," Raziel warned him, "and treasure that heart as it is my greatest gift." He added, sending a beam of light that turned the instruments into ashes. "Farewell, Alexander." He said, disappearing along with the light and leaving the cave in complete darkness.

Alec fell to his knees as soon as the golden circle disappeared and he had trouble breathing. It was as if suddenly the oxygen on the island weren't enough.

"Why did you do that!?" Jonathan Morgenstern protested, charging against Alec with his sword held high. Alec tried to move, but before he could even blink Jonathan Wayland protected him, jumping in front of Alec and receiving the blow himself, falling lifeless at his feet.

"No!" Alec gasped, trying to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the wound as Magnus had done with Jace, but Jonathan's blow had been precise. He had cut the poor boy's throat.

"Alec!" Jace exclaimed from afar, but Alec couldn't even look up, Jonathan was already upon him.

"You are going to regret having destroy them." Jonathan said and lifted his sword, but just when he was about to kill Alec a thud was heard and Jonathan fell to the ground unconscious.

"I told you not to move, you little brat."

It was Magnus, and all Alec could do was smile because this nightmare was finally coming to an end.


So, yeah, Alec couldn't be more wrong. This is not over yet, they still have to get the hell out of there, so we'll see how that goes. See you all next Tuesday! Only two chapters left :(