Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to The Mortal Instruments, The Dark Artifacts, and anything else with Cassandra Clare's name on it -yada yada :)

AN: If you haven't read The Bane Chronicles there is a small spoiler alert.

Jace In Exile

Chapter 4

Chairman Meow rolled off Magnus' lap and stretched in front of Clary. Magnus leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Clary's hand itched for her pencils and paper to sketch him. Magnus looked wiser, much older right now, sitting deep in thought on the green velour couch. It was easy to assume Magnus was their age with his youthful air. Jace told her once that Magnus was closer to 400 years old; she could see the experience and knowledge lining his face now.

He turned his cat-like eyes to Clary, "I don't involve myself with Clave business, but I did know the Shadowhunter who asked to reverse his ascension. He was young and fell in love with a wealthy mundane heiress."

Magnus stared off into the distance remembering Edmund Herondale. His child-like laughter and beautiful blue eyes came to mind. Edmund was so trusting of the world and held little favor for the concepts of love and marriage until the night he and Magnus rescued the pretty young welsh girl. Her name escaped him, but he recalled Edmund's passion for destroying demons and his love of adventure. Edmund enjoyed living on the edge, exploring sinful establishments, and all kinds of debauchery.

Magnus took a deep breath and spoke his thoughts out loud, "He was a young Shadowhunter, very skilled for his age, and drop dead gorgeous," he grinned shyly at Alec, "Sorry Alec this was a long time ago."

"He rescued a young woman one night from a demon attack and was immediately smitten. He courted her and they were engaged. She was an heiress, the only one left of her name, and she felt she had a duty to her family to maintain the estate and household."

Magnus had Alec's attention now, "Why didn't she ascend and drink from the mortal cup, become a Shadowhunter?"

"Because in those days it was very rare for a young woman to be responsible for an estate, especially a single woman. She came to London looking for a husband. She fell in love with a man, who happened to be a Shadowhunter, and he fell in love with her. His heart was in great turmoil, deciding to give up his calling or leave that life behind and be with his one true love. He couldn't imagine a life without her, and chose to leave his Shadowhunter way of life to be with her." Magnus replied with a longing in his voice. "True love only comes to some once in a lifetime, he took his opportunity and made a very tough decision."

"I can relate to his situation," Clary said softly. "Do you know what happened to him after he had his marks stripped? Did he survive, marry his heiress and live happily ever after? Do you know what the ritual included? Was he changed?" Clary asked the questions so quickly she was stumbling on her words.

Magnus looked at her like she had five heads, "Of course he was changed Biscuit! Stripping a Shadowhunter's marks is to change their inner soul or true purpose. I'm sure the Brothers have modernized the process since the 1800's, but it's still removing something placed by heavenly hands. I believe they cut away the rune marks and burn the angel fire out of your blood. As for the man, after he left the Shadowhunter world, he did marry the heiress, had children, and the rest is for the history books." Magnus couldn't bring himself to tell Clary the bad parts of Edmund Herondale's life after he left his calling. Edmund reminded Magnus of Jace, and sharing the downward spiral of depression, gambling, and death Edmund experienced would not benefit anyone close to Jace Wayland right now.

Clary turned pale and then a slight green. "Cut your marks away...how can they do that...oh by the Angel."

"They probably use seraph blades to remove the marks. I've never been stabbed with an Angel blade, but I would imagine it would be very painful," said Alec gravely and winced at the thought. "Did the Shadowhunter have a parabati?"

A look of agony crossed Magnus' face as he turned to Alec, "I don't know if he had a parabati. Oh Alec, this situation has to be so confusing and scary for you. I'm sorry I wasn't more in touch with your needs."

Magnus padded across the room to where Alec was standing and put his arms around him. Their foreheads touching, locking eyes with each other, and finger intertwined. It was a touching moment; Clary and Izzy both had to look away, to say their love lives were a wreck was an understatement.

Clary recalled the first time she saw Jace without his shirt on. He made some sly comment about being a nude model for Clary to draw. Her lips turned upward at the thought but the smile quickly disappeared.

She was always trying to capture Jace in her sketchbook, and could visualize Jace's chest and back. The mental image usually gave her stomach butterflies, but now the picture made her feel ill. He had hundreds of runes all over his body. They would cut each rune away with a seraph blade, and he would heal slowly, like a mundane. Clary's eyes started to water as she imagined Jace's body broken and bloody.

She knew Jace loved being a Shadowhunter, it was his identity. If that went away what would be left? She would always love him regardless, but would he let himself be loved? Jace lived for the fight; she knew he felt redeemed when he took down evil in the world. He saw his actions as the only "good" in him.

When he was hunting down demons, saving mundies from the bad guys, and restoring balance in the world – this was when he felt a sense of internal happiness. Without that focus would he fall into a depression? What would remain of her beloved warrior? She shuttered at the thought of Jace in the dungeons of the Silent City, alone awaiting his fate.

Alec stood up from the couch and stretched his arms, "So the ritual is barbaric, and it's never been carried out on a Shadowhunter who didn't want to be stripped of his marks. This could kill Jace, not to mention crush his spirit and change him into someone entirely different than God intended."

Izzy glanced at Alec with curiosity, and continued picking at her nails, "Alec - Jace has never stated he believes in God. He believes in the whole good versus evil scenario, but not God. I've never heard you reference God either. What gives?"

Alec was pacing back and forth looking at the floor for answers, "Look we need a miracle here. The Clave doesn't have a history of going back on life-changing sentences, and that is what we want correct? We want to stop Jace from having his marks stripped, keep him a Shadowhunter? I don't see how that is possible without someone with great power intervening."

Izzy saw the connection now and didn't pry further.

"The only other option is for Jace to go rogue, and what kind of life will that be? He would be running from the reversal ceremony, so not being a Shadowhunter minus the physical pain to remove his marks. Do you really think Jace would run to avoid the physical pain?" Alec said raising an eyebrow at Clary and Izzy.

Clary stopped daydreaming and tuned back to the conversation, "Isn't there a way to fight the Clave's verdict? Jace didn't get any opportunity to plead his case. They just had Inquisitor Herondale testify that Jace went to meet Valentine secretly before our battle on the ship. Jace told me Valentine made him an offer to join him, but he refused. He fought on our side and almost died, doesn't that count for anything?"

Magnus perked up and said, "Did you say Inquisitor Herondale gave the negative testimony about Jace?"

"Yes!" Izzy, Alec, and Clary replied in unison.

Izzy continued on her rant, "She is an evil bitch. She thought Jace was guilty before she even met him. She locked him in a cell of seraph blades and left him to starve. Alec had to rescue him. She knows Jace fought on our side because he saved her life at one point in the battle on the ship. He told me she didn't even acknowledge his presence after he took down a demon attaching her."

"Clary - is Jace sure he knows who his true father is? I know he thinks it's Michael Wayland now that he knows Valentine just raised him, but what if Wayland isn't really his father?" asked Magnus out of the blue.

Magnus was up pacing the room next to Alec. All this reminiscing about Edmund Herondale made Magnus compare Jace to the Herondales he had know, first Edmund then Will. He thought there was a very close resemblance. All three were beautiful with striking eyes and angelic like features. They had the same desire for adventure boarding on personal infliction of pain, and the same snarky wit. He kept his theory to himself, but vowed to investigate these coincidences further.

AN: I'm changing it up a little bit for storyline purposes...obviously Imogen Herondale is alive. Jace doesn't know he's not a Wayland, etc. Wait until you see what trouble Jace stumbles onto next...

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Thanks for reading :)