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CHAPTER SEVEN:
Finally

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Gah! I don't know why it took so bloody long to update! It just didn't seem to flow out like other chapters. Sorry, guys. The love triangle I mentioned before was between Isabelle, Simon, and Meliorn. There are no other love triangles in this story. Hint hint! And I can't believe nobody's caught the Boy Named Sue reference yet. Ha! Also, many thanks to the jerk who forgot to sign their name to the 200th review.

This chapter's song:Words by Low.

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"Where is she?" asked Jace, practically in a growl as he pushed rudely past Magnus.

"Upstairs, jackass," Magnus added softly at the end, kissing Alec quickly hello and stepping aside to let the others in. "Oh joy. The band's getting back together. They even brought everyone's favorite bloodsucker, though he never calls and never writes…"

Simon smirked and gave Magnus a quick, one-armed hug and manly pat on the back. Despite their obvious differences, Simon missed the old boy and his eccentricities. Everyone in Idris was so… boring and monochromatic.

"How is she?" he asked softly. "Is she stable?"

Magnus nodded and replied the smirk, eyeing the way Simon's arm still held Isabelle's waist tenderly yet subconsciously. "Yea, I got a friend on it. She's alive, if that's what you mean."

"How could you let it get this bad?" he asked of no one in particular as they all headed up the stairs. They knew it was no one's fault but her own. "I mean, how could she go from tired to dying in a few days?"

"We don't know. We don't even know what it is. It's not human though."

Simon scoffed. "When is it ever?" he whispered to himself, his eyes falling on the pale-skinned creature on the bed. He let out a low string of profanities before going to kneel by her side. He felt an arm shielding him back and realized it was Jace.

Though he was quite aware that Jace and Clary were not brother and sister, they shared the same sickly skin. How long had it been since he slept?

"Don't get too close," Jace warned with the same guttural voice. "He's keeping her stable. You can't disturb him."

Isabelle pulled him back towards her, closer to the door of the bedroom. He'd become her addiction. She didn't know why she had this sudden desire to be held and touched. It didn't matter by whom. And she didn't need a distraction, not like last time. She just needed a cool hand to keep her steady.

There was a moment of silence when everyone watched Jace. The similarities were clear to them all though Magnus could not sense the bleeding gash in Jace's soul as he did with Clary. Jace was just exhausted with worry, same as anyone in his situation.

"I'm sorry," said Alec. "I should have told you sooner but this shouldn't be this bad. You saw her two days ago. She was fine. She was getting worse but not like this."

"You should have told me," he growled.

Simon let go of Izzy and stood between Jace and Clary. If she was asleep, it was his job to defend her, even from the boy she loved. "You should have known!" he shouted back, pushing Jace a good step backwards. He'd expected more resistance but Jace was a rag doll in his hands. "You were with her for two months and you couldn't tell she was dying? How did Alec?"

They all turned to Alec, who shrugged. "Don't look at me! It was obvious she was sick but I didn't know she was dying. You were all just looking elsewhere!"

Magnus instinctively draped an arm over Alec's shoulder, trying to protect him. Months ago, Alec would have blushed or pushed off. Now, he cringed closer into Magnus' side. It was a lesson Jace had yet to learn: to seek help and comfort from those who love you. He still kept everything inside, even from Clary. She knew this and accepted it but it was a trait which only dug her grave.

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Clary heard chanting around her and felt a small hand enveloping hers. Then, there was a large battle outside her mind. Or rather, it sounded like it. She couldn't focus her images, the images that connected to each voice inside her head. For Magnus, she always imagined a shiny GI Joe toy with purple, glittery camouflage shorts and a Mohawk. For Alec, she imagined a little boy in a library, swallowed up by sea of books so only his vibrant blue eyes and messy dark hair showed. The eyes shifted expression depending on the tone of voice. For Isabelle, she saw Wonder Woman in all black and for Simon… well, Simon was always Simon.

A long time ago, she had savored the image of him as the delicate boy with nerdy t-shirt logos and broken old jeans that never quite fit right. She knew that he no longer resembled this boy. He was a child of night, eternal. He was not of this world, but he would always be her Simon.

Then, the final voice, she did not quite place with any image. It was warped, mainly because she had never heard him so furious. It was a free fury, whole-hearted. There were no other mixed emotions. It was not fury based in fear or doubt. It was just… anger, as though someone had told him this was what he was supposed to feel and followed the command blindly.

She knew it was Jace but she couldn't picture him as though someone had wiped him out completely. She struggled to find a phrase, a word that was solely his, but his tone was consistent. There were sounds of bodies falling on wooden floor, of whips and knives being drawn but never used. She even heard Magnus hiss and someone was slapped.

"I LOVE HER! I trusted her to tell me!" Jace yelled, his voice cracking.

She continued to force herself to open her eyes but she was not connected to her body. She had no control. Then, the chanting stopped and her eyes shot open. She gasped out for air and felt two strong hands holding her outstretched arms.

Jace.

His light eyes were set in an emotion she hadn't seen in some time. He didn't say anything, merely held her firmly. Everyone in the room had frozen. She could feel them, see hints of Magnus' glitter in the corner of her eye, but she refused to take her eyes off Jace as though afraid he'd disappear.

Surprisingly, she could focus on the elegant features of his face without becoming dizzy or weak. The longer he held her, the better she felt. A slow smile crept onto her face.

"Hey," she whispered.

He didn't reply the smile and the crease between his eyebrows only deepened.

"Hey," said Simon lovingly, coming to sit on the bed across from Jace.

"You lied," she told Jace, her voice dreamy, ignoring Simon completely. "You do love me."

Jace scoffed and his face softened. "You idiot," he finally breathed out, pulling her closer into a gentle hug. He was afraid of hurting her. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She finally took a look around the room over his shoulder. Everyone seemed more or less happy to see her, except Magnus who walked towards her now, an eyebrow raised curiously.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answer to," she answered and pushed back to see his face again. She cradled his cheek in her palm. "No offense, but you look like crap."

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Magnus asked Ja'id Su in a hushed voice.

Clary suddenly felt like an animal at a zoo. "What?"

"I know. I know. I look like crap. I don't need reinforcement," Jace said, slumping his shoulders with slight relief at seeing Clary awake.

Magnus rolled his eyes. "No, actually, I was just going to say you're the missing piece of the puzzle to what's making Clary sick but hey, if you want to be vain, go ahead."

"Just tells us what this is!" shouted Simon. Clary smiled at him for the first time, squeezing his hand on the bed.

"A possession!" Magnus shouted back, his tone light. He seemed… fascinated? His eyes were bright like he could see the flow of energy between them, the great puzzle revealing itself before him, and his arms outstretched at his sides.

"I was right?" asked Alec timidly behind him, feeling slightly proud of his deductive skills.

"If it was a charm or bad rune or something like that, meant to kill her, it wouldn't be drawing energy from Jace right now, which explains why she nearly died when we took her away from the Institute," he explained quickly then turned to Clary. "Something's feeding off your energy and, to stay alive, you're feeding off Jace because of your… uhm, connection."

Clary went a little red. "Sorry," she whispered to him. He just brought her to his chest again, his arms a bit too tight as though he too was afraid she'd disappear.

"Yes yes," continued Magnus, waving his hand around dismissively. "It's very sad. We should make a Hallmark card just for this moment. Alas, we have a problem."

"What is it now?" drawled Izzy from the doorway, her arms crossed.

Clary felt like saying, "Well I'm sorry that my demonic possession is taking up so much of your precious decapitation time," but thought it might sound a little callous of her.

"We find whatever's doing this and kill it."

"Well, obviously," said Jace. "The thing is how to find it. Would it be close?"

"Not necessarily. I've never seen a possession like this either. It's too slow as though they were trying to evade detection as they gathered up energy."

"A smart demon?" said Simon. Magnus shot him a cross look. Simon, realizing warlocks were part demon, shot back an apologetic smile and continued, "I know they're all smiles and everything but how do they—"

"Through dreams?" interrupted Jace. The dark circles under his eyes were suddenly more pronounced, understandably so.

Clary gripped his arm. "The pit?"

"Those eyes."

They shared a nod and, coming to the same conclusion, said, "Sebastian."

"Isn't his real name Jonathan?" Alec added, remembering what Ja'id Su had said about the voices in her head. Jace was about to make a joke about semantics but was cut off. "Jonathan Christopher? Her brother?"

Ja'id Su sat up, startled, and faced Magnus accusingly. "He is blood? She is part demon?"

"No, we're all angel here, thank God," corrected Jace. "But how could—let's just call him Sebastian to avoid confusion—could have taken hold of her if I was the last person to see him alive."

"He's obviously not dead. I mean, she can't be possessed by a ghost, can she?" asked Izzy, her eyes wide with fear at the boy's name. She didn't have to have the dreams to be haunted by his eyes day and night. Jace and Clary could have forgotten them one day. They could have gotten married and go on with their lives, far away. Jace thought he had killed his demons. Izzy never had.

"I can find out, if you allow me passage," said Ja'id Su softly, bowing before her and Jace.

Jace pulled her closer to his chest. "Where? How?" he asked, desperate for a solution. He wanted everything to return to the way things were, but he too easily fooled himself. Things had never been good. And, though Clary was always his, he could never really see that their relationship only ever existed in his head.

"I can enter her mind. I can search for answers."

Clary's eyes widened. She hated some of her own thoughts. She couldn't imagine what someone else might think of them. Still, she set those worries aside for the chance to be truly alone with Jace. Realizing she'd been possessed all this time made her doubt her feelings, her mind.

"Will it hurt?" she asked in a meek voice. Shadowhunters weren't supposed to be afraid of pain. They were supposed to relish in it and the power it brought. Jace glanced at her quickly in surprise then back at Ja'id Su. He wasn't disappointed. He just… didn't like her reminding him how fragile she really was. He lived to protect her now, whether she liked it or not and she never liked it.

"No, my dear. It will not. I am quick and if all goes well, it will not be aware of my presence."

Jace went to stand but Magnus pushed him back down. "Get comfortable, sweetheart. You can't let her go or she'll crash again," he said then turned towards the room. "We should give them a little privacy in case the dirty parts of Clary's mind start spilling out onto the floor."

Clary looked terrified but Magnus shot her a small smile and a wink, showing her he was kidding. Everyone cleared the room, herded out by Magnus who closed the door behind him. He materialized a chair and set it against the door, sitting down gracefully with crossed legs.

Clary sighed, defeated, and scooted over so Jace could lie down beside her. He understood what she wanted but he didn't right away. He eyed the spot of bedding for a long moment then slowly kicked off his shoes and rested on his side next to her.

Ja'id Su watched their interaction with a tilted head and narrowed eyes. He looked then to Magnus questioningly but, before Clary or Jace could see, Su had taken hold of her hand and had penetrated her mind.

It felt as thought a bullet had penetrated her temple. Her mind went dark as though someone had kicked her out of her own thoughts. She opened her eyes wide but everything was dark. "I can't see!" she shouted to the ceiling, arching her back. She felt two warm hands push her gently back down. It was Jace, of course, and his touch made her feel infinitely better.

"It's okay," he whispered in her ear, the fear obvious in his voice. He was trying so hard to be strong for her. "I'm here, Clary."

"There's something wrong. This is no simple possession!" Ja'id Su shouted.

Jace hushed him. "You're scaring her!"

"She should be scared! This creature cannot be expelled. It does not reside within her body, within any body!"

Clary heard something hissing in her head, hissing in pain. "Get out!" the demon voice said. "They are mine!"

The lights were turned back on and she heard Su's body hit the floor by her side. She gasped out again and reached around for Jace. Everything was blurry but his hair and pale skin were like a beacon against the darkness. She gripped his arm so strongly that her nails pierced the skin and he cringed, pulling her off.

"Clary! Your eyes!" Magnus shouted. "You have to come back!"

He ran down to Su's little body on the floor, pulling him up into a sitting position. His eyes were as black as hers, dead and lifeless. She was slowly fading.

"She did this!" shouted Su, breaking out into violent spasms.

Clary drew closer into Jace on the bed just as Simon broke down the door. "What's going on?" he shouted, practically flying over the bed toward Su. "What did she do to him?"

She didn't cry. She just clung to Jace's shirt. "I'm sorry," she replied, her voice low as though still in shock. Everyone around her was screaming but all she craved was the silence in her head again.

Jace wanted to tell her it wasn't her fault but he couldn't lie to himself. "What can we do?" he asked Magnus, who seemed to be trying to hold Su down unsuccessfully.

"You promised!" the little man growled, the blackness spreading in his eyes. He was talking to a figure before him, an image only he could see. Magnus knew how Su's abilities worked. He knew he was trying to manipulate the demon into giving them answers. "You promised me, mother! You said I would be safe!"

Jace suddenly froze his attempts to comfort her. He stiffened until she pulled back. "Jace?"

He flung out of her grip and climbed down by the floor beside Simon and Magnus. He steadied Su's head and focuses the old man's dead eyes on his own. He could feel the warmth slipping from the man. He was dying and they could do nothing to stop it.

"Say it again! Who sent you to us? Who did this to you?" he asked.

The creature did not respond. Su gave his final breath and the spasms stopped. He began to wheeze out something, his hand flying up to grip Jace's sleeve to pull him closer. "Jocelyn," he whispered. "Only she … can… end the… connection."

A few moments later, Su was seemingly dead. It took a few minutes for him to snap back to life again. The first thing he did when he regained consciousness was move as far away from Clary as possible, nearly stepping out the window.

"You okay there, buddy?" asked Simon, holding his arm to make sure he didn't fall.

Su stared at Jace, who had the mission etched into his mind. "We have to go," he said, kneeling on the wooden floor. He straightened up, his shoulders preparing themselves to bear a great weight.

"Go? Go where?" asked Simon in disbelief. "That thing nearly killed him!"

Jace shook his head and stood. He turned towards Clary who still sat up against the headboard. He slid his arms beneath her knees and back and lifted her up like a knight. He turned back to the others on the floor and, with a furrowed brow and pursed lips, answered, "You heard him. We need to see Jocelyn. We need to end this... We need to go to Idris."

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If you reviewed with a prediction to what's killing Clary, a correct one, you found out this plot twist early. Sorry to everyone else but I thought it was pretty obvious. And for anyone who's a Draco/Hermione fan, my epic Love, Lust, and Draco Malfoy story is now complete! Oh yes. I'm not above shameless self-promotion. Let's hope the next chapter flows!

Reviews are better than bloodsuckers who never call.