MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! What's this? the worst updater ever making a special appearance as per a christmas miracle :) This chapter is a bit on the short side, but I hope you'll like it. My writing's a bit rusty after so many months on hiatus, luckily my college dissertation is done and the hardest half of my final year is over, so updates should come sooner. Please let me know what you think :)
Chapter 16: Come near me.
In life I've failed,
for years I've wailed.
Frozen in time... left behind...
The rapture of grief is all to find...
The rapture of grief is all!
-Death come near me by Draconian
Magnus had a hard time looking away from Alec's still, lifeless frame, but he knew they would have to leave soon. Time was of the essence, and they had so little of it, it could not be spent in useless self-recriminations.
At last he turned away from the bed and came face to face with a group of frantic, anxious-looking shadowhunters –and daylighter- arguing in hushed voices.
"We can't just leave like this!" Izzy was saying "Alec shouldn't stay here alone, what if something happens?! What if the effects of the spell and Simon's blood wear off sooner than expected, he would die! ALONE! And we would not be able to stop it!"
Jace sighed, it was a small short-lived sound filled with both fatigue and exasperation "I know that Iz, believe me, I do! But what else is there for us to do? Sonneillon is a High-class demon, a duke of hell! It will take all of us to take him on, I don't want to leave Alec alone any more than you do, but we don't have a choice!"
"Jace, Izzy, you both need to calm down, this isn't helping anyone!"
It was Clary who spoke, and the ragged high-pitched desperation in her voice was enough to dull Jace's ire, where all else would surely have failed, the blond Nephilim fidgeted and grudgingly backed away a few steps from his adoptive sister.
"Sorry" he muttered eyeing Magnus and his comatose brother with the corner of his eye.
"Magnus" Simon said, trying his best to help calm the tense atmosphere in the room "You are the one who's face this demon before. Can we risk leaving someone behind to watch over Alec?"
The warlock stared at the daylighter for a short moment, before his gaze flickered towards the other inhabitants of the institute, it took him quite longer than usual to process what Simon had asked, and even longer to understand that the question was meant for him to answer. He felt oddly detached from his own self and he could bring himself to care, but he knew he needed to reply before the shadowhunter punched some sense into him with their angelic power.
"Jace is right" Magnus said. Only vaguely aware of how odd it was for them to agree on something.
Before he distracted himself with such musings he went on "Sonneillon is a very powerful demon as he was once a very powerful angel, we really can't afford to leave everyone behind to watch over Alec"
"But-" Isabelle chimed in, only to be cut off by an exasperated hand gesture from the warlock.
"I know, I KNOW Isabelle, I don't want to leave him either, I will place protective circles around him, wards on his bed, spells on the door, demon alarms on every corner of the institute if I have to! He will not be unprotected, but we must go. Now! We are wasting very valuable time!"
Magnus' tirade was interrupted by a sudden ruckus coming from the lower levels of The Institute, everyone in the room stopped their arguing, confusion plain in their faces, as they turned towards the door and the origin of the unknown noise.
"Where is everyone?" they heard the booming voice of Robert Lightwood and chill went down the spines of the two Lightwood children. Maryse and Robert were home. It figured that they would choose this precise moment to come back from a month-long trip to Idris on Clave business.
Isabelle was the first one to compose herself, she gave a deep breath and squared her shoulders before heading towards her door and opening it in one swift motion and heading outside her room to meet her parents.
Magnus came out of his shock next, and went in short pursuit of Izzy. They were all far too emotional and worn out to confront the Lightwood parents at the moment and he feared for what Isabelle might do or say to them, especially Robert.
"Isabelle" Robert Lightwood said, noticing his daughter walking towards him "What is going on here? Where is everyone?"
Izzy pointedly avoided her father's gaze and instead looked behind him, to the advancing figure of her mother walking up the stairs, when Maryse looked up to the haunted eyes of her only daughter she immediately straightened her back and squared her jaw, it seemed to Magnus like every mother could tell when her children were in trouble.
"What is it?" Maryse inquired, her attention solely focused on Isabelle.
Izzy's mouth settled on a tight line and her eyes wandered to stare at her feet before she replied "You better come with me" she said turning her back to her parents and walking towards her room again, when she passed Magnus in the hall she stared at him for the briefest moment, a silent plea in her morose face. The warlock gave an imperceptible nod and fell into step beside her, much to the bafflement of the Lightwood parents, walking closely behind them.
Magnus didn't quite know what happened afterwards, he heard multiple gasps and felt himself being roughly pushed aside with all the power of a full grown shadowhunter's strength, he saw a flash of pitch black her move past him and suddenly Maryse was leaning over Alexander's still figure, with Robert hovering behind her, posture awkward, confused and slightly afraid.
"What happened?" Both Maryse and Robert asked in never to be repeated unison.
Jace and Isabelle struggled for words under the pressure of their parents' collective stare they opened their mouths but no words seemed to come out, so Magnus stepped up to their rescue, this whole situation was his damn fault anyway, it should be his duty to explain.
"I'll tell you" he said, forcing Alec's parents' attention towards him, not a particularly pleasant turn of events for him, but something that could not be avoided anyway.
And so Magnus explained, to the best of his possibilities considering his frayed nerves and shell-shocked mind. Clary had to intervene when it came to describing Alec's frail health, changing mood and inability to share information about his cursed fate. By the time he finished, tears were rolling down Maryse's cheeks, who remained still as a stone and made no sound while Robert sat/collapsed at the foot of Alec's bed, then suddenly he watched Maryse move in a fluid motion. Magnus was too late to realize her intentions and so, he was unable to put up any sort of defense against the powerful slap aimed at the right side of his face. The sudden hit didn't help to clear the warlock's numbed mind that had refused to fully cooperate with him since Sonneillon's attack, he didn't even feel the slap, but Maryse's sorrowful cries didn't give him time to wonder about the sudden pain in his face.
"THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!" The woman hissed, stalking even closer to Magnus. Robert remained on the bed by his son's side, impassive and unreadable, he seemed to be as shell-shocked as everyone else.
"HOW COULD YOU?!" Maryse went on "He's my child! This is your fault!"
"Please mom, calm down. This was not his fault; it was that demon" Isabelle was trying to calm her mother down, and clearly not succeeding.
"He said so himself, the only reason that demon targeted Alexander was because of their relationship!"
"She's right" Magnus agreed, his face blank and voice flat.
"You don't talk" Izzy said, turning towards the warlock "We are going to fix this, we'll save Alec and everything will be all right"
That seemed to bring Robert out of his stupor "How do you mean to do that?" he asked, staring right into his daughter's eyes.
"We have a plan" She said briskly, looking away from her father, searching the room for Jace, Clary and Simon. A silent plea for support in her dark, haunted eyes.
"We do" The blond shadowhunter put in, unwilling to share any details, he knew the Lightwood parents, if they found out what they had in mind, Maryse and Robert would never allow them to go save Alec.
"What is it?" Maryse asked, anger still clear in her voice "What is your plan?" it was clear to everyone that the woman would not drop the issue, no matter how hard any of them tried. With a sigh, Jace looked at his sister and then to his adoptive mother who was pointedly ignoring the warlock and staring pointedly at her remaining children.
"Well then?" She insisted dryly.
"We are going to the demon dimension inhabited by Sonneillon to destroy him and bring Alec's soul back. Magnus will portal us there, he has confronted the demon before and now he has us. We will bring Alec back"
"You will do no such thing!" Maryse declared, shrieking in utter outrage "You will not risk your lives to fix his mistake" she spit out the last part while pointing at Magnus, her intense dark eyes fixed on the warlock's face.
"I-" Magnus started, but was promptly cut off by the young shadowhunters.
"Mom please" Izzy pleaded.
"Try to understand, we have to do this" Jace added, trying to make his adoptive mother see reason "Sonneillon is a Duke of hell, it will take all of us to beat him"
"I will not lose any more of my children" Maryse stated.
Clary took a step forward, with Simon close beside her, she still looked haggard and worn out, but nonetheless, she was willing to face Maryse as best she could "We will do whatever it takes to bring Alec's soul back and come back safely, all of us. Besides, while you have influence over Jace and Izzy's decisions as one of their parents, you have no power over my choices. You are not my mother"
"But I AM one of the leaders of the New York Institute, Claryssa. Therefore, you as a shadowhunter fall under the jurisdiction of my Institute and answer directly to me. I forbid you all to go, as you said, Magnus defeated him once, he will do it again. Alone. And should he fail, I will bring him to the clave myself".
"Maryse" The booming voice of Robert Lightwood resounded in the room, turning everyone's attention to the man. He had a hand pressed against Alec's cheek, looking at his son with eyes full of regret and sorrow "Let them go".
"What?" she asked, a faint hint of incredulity in her voice.
"Let them go" He repeated "Let them bring Alexander back. Trust them, it's not like we have been able to stop them before".
The look in Maryse's face made it clear that she still wanted to argue the point, but the fact that it had been Robert who had asked, and that it was Robert who was holding her baby while she argued bitterly with her children and their loves made her realize how desperate the situation was, she went to sit by the side of her son's bed which placed physically closer to her husband that she had been in months. She kissed her son's forehead and scooted closer to him, brushing Alec's dark hair with her fingers and looking down at him, deep in though. After some time, she glanced away from her oldest child and looked at Isabelle.
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked, though it was obvious that she wanted nothing more than to lie there, in her daughter's bed with her son in her arms.
"No" Izzy said, not unkindly "Actually, before you arrived, we were arguing over what to do about Alec. We are afraid to leave him alone, in case Sonneillon tries something again, but we all have to go".
The Lightwood parents' eyes hardened with fierce resolution and they pressed closer to their fallen child "Go" Robert said again "If this demon tries to harm Alexander again, we will fight him"
"Indeed, we will" Maryse said she gave a small grim smile to her children "Come back safely"
Magnus quickly created a portal, before anything else could happen that would delay them further. The first to step through the portal were Clary and Simon. Jace hesitated for the briefest moment, clearly fighting the urge to look back at his parabatai and his adoptive parents. At his family, he didn't give himself time for anymore sentimentality and quickly followed after the other two. Isabelle was next, looking at her parents for a second. She opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something, but though better of it, pursing her lips into a thin line and stepping through.
Because of this they missed Robert's silent plea for Raziel to protect his children, or the broken sob in Maryse's voice as she started to sing a lullaby that was all too familiar for the Lightwood children. A brief moment of sadness infiltrated through Magnus' numbness and a single, treacherous tear slid down his cheek.
Chante rossignol, chante
Toi qui a le coeur gai
Tu as le coeur à rire
Moi je l'ai à pleurer
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime
Jamais je ne t'oublierai.*
Magnus walked through the portal, Maryse's lullaby still ringing in his ears. He would bring her son back to her, he would kill Sonneillon and save his Alexander's soul, if it was the last thing he did.
AN: English translation to Maryse's song:
Sing, nightingale, sing
You with your carefree heart
Your heart feels like laughing
Mine feels like weeping
I have loved you for a long, long time
Never will I forget you.