This one is kind of sad :/ I'd like to thank Crazycuz for being a beta for this chapter J Please review x

Taking the opportunity whilst it lasted, Magnus sprang out of the chair and through the open door, locking it firmly behind him…

Magnus ran out the front doors of the Institute just in time to see a young woman with dark, flowing brown hair and wild grey eyes climbing the stone steps. She was bare-footed and was dressed in ripped jeans and a thin white shirt. The temperature was well below freezing on this particularly snowy New York winter night but she did not have a jacket, as if she had forgotten it in the rush to get here.

She looked up at Magnus, frantically saying, "I felt it, Magnus! I was just reading and then my memories suddenly started to blur and change! And by the Angel, Magnus, they're still changing!"

Tessa tried to push her way into the place that held all the last traces of her family, but Magnus held her steady.

"No," he said gently. "It's not worth it."

"'NOT WORTH IT'?!" she screeched so loudly that Magnus was sure that the entire street was able to hear her.

Realising he had indeed been slightly brash with his words, Magnus rested a hand on either side of her head, which was somewhat difficult to do considering that she was fighting tooth and nail to get inside the building, and said sternly, "You know what I meant."

She continued to struggle but Magnus would not move a single inch. Realising that she would not be able to get past someone much stronger than herself, Tessa felt a sense of hopelessness crash over her. Finally, her legs gave way and she began to sob hysterically.

Crouching down, Magnus took off his extravagant fur coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

It was then that he heard the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up. The warlock was faced with the figure of a young man standing above them. The look on the Eurasian man's face was one of such overwhelming sadness that Magnus felt his own heart ache.

"Jem," Magnus acknowledged, hoping that his arrival would get the sobbing girl's attention. However, it did not and she just continued to cry convulsively.

"Is it true?" Jem said quietly, his voice almost an inaudible whisper, bending down to wrap an arm around Tessa.

"Yes," Magnus confirmed, feeling like a doctor telling someone that they had contracted a terminal illness.

Jem raised a shaky hand to his parabatai rune and took a shuddering breath before putting his lips to her ear and whispering, "Tessa my love, wǒ qīn aì de rén, you can mourn however you want for however long you want afterward, but we need to set things right first, do you understand? You don't want those memories to be gone forever, do you Tessa?"

Tessa's crying began to dull to a whimper but her breathing was still erratic as she shook her head.

"Then once again we must be the ones who remain strong."

"But they are my family…" she protested, her voice hoarse.

"You will always have family," Jem said while looking up at Magnus.

"Always," the cat-eyed warlock said simply, then added, "Tessa sweetheart, you barely made it through losing him the first time, we all know you will not survive having to do it again."

Upon hearing that, Tessa let out one final single sob.

Inside the Institute Will stood, head leaning against the door with one hand pressed up against it. Hearing each one of her desperate sobs made him feel as if knives were embedding themselves one after another in his gut.

He knew exactly why Magnus had to keep them apart. It was for her sake. But knowing that did not really make the facts any less painful.

If it really was 2013 then he was most definitely dead and had been for many years now. Once, he had even been sure that any grandchildren, if they ever had any, would also be dead. However, that assumption had been proven wrong by the golden boy sitting in the same room he was in who wouldn't have existed otherwise.

A sudden thought that occurred to him made him feel like bucket upon bucket of ice had been poured over his head. Jem. Was he still a silent brother? Had they found a cure at last? Will frowned. Or was he gone? No, he couldn't be. An odd tingling sensation in his faded parabatai rune told him Jem was still very much alive.

Will felt a tug on the back of his coat and looked down. Lucie had gone back to her customary silence, but the fear in her eyes made him realise that they had to leave sooner rather than later. And it had to be while he still had the strength to keep himself from knocking down the very door he was leaning on, no matter the cost.

The redheaded girl in the corner, Clary, he thought her name was, walked over to the wall next to where he stood and drew out her stele. Before Will could ask her what she was doing she began to draw a rune on the surface. A rune that he had never seen before in his entire life. The only reason he did not freak out was because he had first-hand experience of watching a person create runes no one else could.

When she was finished, she turned and asked Lucie gently, "Does that look like the rune you saw before?"

Lucie nodded affirmatively in delight.

The golden boy in the corner - alright, maybe he should start calling him by his name - stood up and asked Clary, "How did you know that?"

She shrugged while smirking at him as he gazed down in wonderment at her before shaking his head. "Clary Fray, you never cease to amaze me."

Just when he was very tempted to join in the flirting fest, the doors of the Institute opened and Will found himself face to face to a young male no older than himself, with brown hair and eyes that were both so dark that they could be mistaken as black. However, the most outstanding feature about him was the strip of silver in his hair that stood out against the darkness. He looked almost... familiar...

Who was he?

Clary perked up. "Brother-"

It was then recognition hit him like a sledgehammer. He heard his own voice murmur dazedly, "Jem."