Look who's back after being MIA for over 3 months. I won't give any excuses but I'm a prospective college graduate on my last semester of my undergraduate program and life hasn't been easy. Can't promise a more stable update schedule just yet, but I haven't given up on this story! This chapter might not be great though, since I'm a bit rusty :C But hopefully you'll enjoy it! Read you all soon.

Chapter 17: To Hell and Back

That death does wait

There's no debate

So charge and attack

Going to hell and back

-To hell and back by Sabaton

All around him there was darkness, a black void where no pain existed and all his emotions and memories were dull and distant, like a long forgotten dream. The boy didn't know where he was or how he had gotten there, he was only aware of the fact that he had once been through a terrible agony and the current numbness was a relief. The only thing that worried him was that he couldn´t really remember anything. What was his name? How had he come to be here? Nothing existed, only the painless abyss. He stayed there floating in the black nothingness, losing more and more small pieces of himself with every passing second. That was when he felt it. A warmness surrounding him, bringing back sensation, it was engulfing him, setting him aflame. He couldn't escape it and it was destroying him. There was nothing but pain and fire, and when he heard a sinister voice chuckling around him, stirring the dormant memories buried within him, he let go. And so the boy fell further from existence, tethered to life only by the malicious thread that tied him to a demon…

Stepping through the portal, Magnus and the others set foot into a grim landscape, miles and miles of barren soil, thorny bushes and two scorching suns that rose far on the horizon. Magnus could count with his fingers the number of times he had been to a demon dimension, and though the experience was never pleasant at least this time he did not feel drained of his magic and of the brink of death. That had been a wild ride, many years ago. He hated to think about it, his own father leeching away at his powers, setting him up to die. There was also that first confrontation with Sonneillon in this same hell dimension and how narrowly he had escaped death then. That time he had only sealed the greater demon away, he had cast a spell and separated his physical body from his soul, destroying the former in a sea of blue flame while locking away the latter with the last bits of his magic.

He had been younger then, not has knowledgeable or strong as he was now and frankly, he had been scared of the consequences it could bring to actually kill such a high-ranking demon, especially when said demon had the attentive ears of the princes of hell.

Magnus was not afraid now. Sonneillon had made a terrible mistake and the warlock would make sure that he pays for it. He would make sure the demon suffered tenfold for what he had done to Alexander. Sonneillon's agony would be heard from every corner of every single demon dimension in existence. Let that be a message to any creature who ever dare to even think about harming Magnus Bane's loved ones.

Not giving himself any more time to fret over this thoughts, he turned towards the contingent of Vampire and shadowhunters that stood a few feet away from him, bathed in the light of the portal that he had neglected to close. They were looking at him with their expectant and anxious faces and all the coiled energy that was a trademark of their race.

"Well?" Jace inquired "Should we close this portal and get going?"

Magnus refrained from saying anything, waving his left hand in a lazy gesture and turning away before the portal had vanished, he started walking in the opposite direction of the scorching suns, not stopping to discuss the plan- or lack of one for that matter, with the rest of the group.

"Where are we going?" Clary asked, clearly struggling to keep up with Magnus' longer stride.

"At this point biscuit, I would think that question is quite redundant"

The warlock didn't stop if his brisk walk and instead started to speed up, he didn't seem to be interested in making small talk with anyone at the moment, no matter how much he appreciated and cared for them.

Isabelle Lightwood had other ideas. Of course she did.

"Answer the question Bane, just where are we headed?" she picked up the pace and stepped in front of him, blocking his advance.

She had her hands on her hips, close to her weapon's belt and her lips were set in a stubborn line, this bode ill for Magnus, who really didn't have the strength or time to deal with irate, obstinate shadowhunters.

"Where. Are. We. Going?" she asked, enunciating each word slowly and fixing him with her deadly dark-eyed stare.

"Towards Sonneillon" said Magnus, the Of course was implicit in his tone and the poorly hidden scowl on his face "I can sense his demonic aura, which you would also be able to do if you had brought your sensors"

Izzy's jaw tensed and her brow furrowed. He heard Jace growl indignantly behind him and turned to weight the blonde boy's reaction. His hands were balled into fists, his posture was tense and his face was pale, but Magnus could sense the cold, silent fury flowing from the Nephilim's entire being.

"Let me remind you" Jace hissed, trying- and failing quite miserably- to sound calm "That you are not alone in this Bane, we're supposed to be working together"

The warlock took a deep breath to calm himself before we answered "And we are, but right now I'm the only one with a solid lead about that demon's location"

"And you couldn't tell us that before you dashed into the unknown without so much as a peep?" Added Isabelle, in a voice much softer than Jace's but just as full of anger.

Clary and Simon remained quiet, unwilling to take a specific side in this confrontation. They didn't want to deal with their partners' anger or have it aimed at them by coming to Magnus' defense, but they didn't want to leave him to face the ire of the Lightwoods by himself, especially not know, when his mind and spirit were clearly strained past the point of endurance of any normal person.

"We don't have time for this" was Magnus cryptic answer, and he said nothing more. He started walking again and was surprised when he felt a hand close around his left shoulder, making him tumble to the ground due to the strength of the hold.

He felt dirt enter his nostrils which made him want to sneeze, and tiny rocks scrapped his palms, wrists and legs stinging momentarily and drawing tiny droplets of blood. He didn't worry about those too much, they would heal even before he stood up and cleaned the dust from his pants.

Jace was hovering over him, his face was contorted into a mask of pure rage and his golden eyes shone with the scorching heat of heavenly fire. For a moment, Magnus thought the shadowhunter was going to hit him, which he would deeply regret, since all of his angel-blood wouldn't be a match for Magnus' magic, but no blows came and the blonde boy merely yelled at him, again.

"We aren't done talking warlock" Jace hissed "From now on, you're going to share all your information with us, no more leaving us in the dark, this is about Alec, god damn it!"

"Or else what?" Magnus challenged, blue flames erupting from his hands, betraying the fake calm, underneath the warlock's soft, even voice "Do not forget Nephilim, I have nothing to fear from you. And if it weren't for Alexander our paths would never have crossed as they have"

"Technically that one's on me" interjected Clary, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Not a good time biscuit" replied Magnus, his gaze still posed on the small redhead's golden boyfriend. Isabelle moved to stand beside her adoptive brother and, sensing the impending doom, Simon glided away from her and towards Clary, his pose revealing that he was willing to use every ounce of his vampire power to intervene, if necessary.

"And just who's fault is it that Alec is dying? Or that we have to risk our lives in this hell dimension?!"

Isabelle's words stung, even more so because she had always been his and Alexanders greatest supporter. Magnus knew her accusations came from the grief and terror in her heart and perhaps now that the shock had worn off, she and her brother were ready to lash out at the person that had brought on their beloved brother and parabatai's demise.

Even though he found the Lightwood's rage justified, and deep down he was glad that they finally were showing a proper reaction to Alexander's situation, he could help the flash of hurt that stabbed at his heart, and he tried to defend himself.

"I didn't know about the curse! And I didn't force you to join me on this little field trip to hell now, did I?! I told you I would make things right and save Alec ALONE, you didn't have to risk your lives, It's not what Alec would want! If he wakes up and something happened to any of you, he would feel terrible!"

"NOW YOU WORRY ABOUT HOW ALEC WOULD FEEL?!" Isabelle was relentless, her whole frame trembled and she was white with fury, to the point that Clary and Simon had moved to stand closer between Magnus and the furious shadowhunters.

"You only had to listen!" Izzy cried "Listen to Alec's reasons and give him a chance to explain!"

"It was not that easy at the time, you should know that" Magnus could feel his own temper flaring despite his efforts to control it. It was then that he realized something was amiss with the atmosphere around them.

"Nothing is ever easy with you Bane! You are way too proud and stubborn for that!" Jace hissed, and for a moment, Magnus could see the heavenly fire burning along the boy's veins, there was something about this place that was making them all crazy with anger and he needed to do something to stop it before things took a turn for the worse, but he found that he didn't have enough self-control for that.

"Oh careful golden boy! You could choke with all the blood from biting your tongue!" Magnus' eyes were dilated, his hands glowed with sparks of blue fire and an aura of great power cracked around him like a storm. Later, Clary and Simon would admit that in that moment, standing at the sidelines and trying to remain neutral, they had been scared of him and could believe that he was indeed part demon.

"Are you threatening us downworlder, because this problem can be easily solved" Isabelle uncoiled her electrum whip from her arm and tried to move closer to Magnus, but Simon was there in a second, placing his hands on top of her shoulders and using all of his strength to restrain her.

"Izzy! Calm down, why are you being like this? You know Magnus would never want Alec to be hurt, none of us do! And I am a downworlder too remember? And you've never used it against me, you are not being yourself" Simon was trying to be soothing, but he clearly had to put more force on his hold, since Izzy was trying to shake him off.

"Why would you be on his side?!" she spat, turning to glare at him "You're supposed to stand by me!

"Let her go, daylighter!" Jace stalked closer to Simon and Isabelle, taking a seraph blade from his weapon's belt, he hadn't named it yet, but the message was clear let go of my sister or I'll cut your head off.

"JACE! What is wrong with you?" Clary was looking up at her boyfriend anxiety, anger and fear shining clearly in her emerald green eyes. No one had noticed her running up to Simon and Isabelle. She placed herself between them and her irate boyfriend, hands on her hips in a clearly defiant gesture. She looked away from Jace to glance briefly in Magnus' direction. He stood a few feet away from them somewhere between Jace and Izzy, slightly to their left. Clary gave him a tiny smile.

"Something's wrong with this place, isn't it?" She didn't wait for his answer and immediately turned her attention back to Jace, who was staring at her in disbelief.

"Move out of the way Clary" he demanded

"No" She shifted her feet and separated her legs a bit more, planting herself more firmly on the ground "You're not thinking clearly. None of us are, there's something weird about this demon dimension that's making us want to rip each other's throats"

"I don't care!" Jace hissed "I want you to move away, then I'll make the daylighter take his hands off my sister and after that we'll teach Bane a lesson about cooperation and teamwork"

"No, you will not!" Clary replied in a clipped voice, raising her voice slightly.

Their argument was interrupted before it could escalate further by a loud and shrill sound coming from above them, as one they looked up at the sky and their hearts sank with dread at what they saw.

The blood-red sky was painted with streaks of black as a swarm of all sorts of demons split the sky, heading directly towards them. That seemed to shock them out of their rage-induced stupor, focusing their energy in the horde of demons rather than in fighting one another.

"Why are there so many?" Clary asked Magnus holding one seraph blade in each hand shifting closer to Jace and turning to make sure Simon was close to her.

"Whatever energy or phenomenon that messed with our emotions must have attracted them" he replies. It's the only explanation that makes sense to him, especially because since the cloud of demons caught his attention, his anger and bitterness towards Alec's siblings all but disappeared.

"I think Magnus is right" Jace agrees in a low voice, he named his seraph blade Barachiel and stepped protectively in front of Clary, at the same time, his free hand went to his temple and he winced "I don't get why I was so angry and now my head's killing me"

"Ditto" Isabelle says, now leaning into Simon's contact, relishing in the much needed support. She feels weak-kneed and slightly faint, tiny needles of pain stabbing at her skull constantly.

"We need to get away from here" Magnus tells them, his voice earnest and raw "Sonneillon's demonic activity is growing stronger in the west side of this dimension, he sent these demons to make sure my magic is drained by fighting them. The damn coward. We need to run so that we can escape without killing too many of them, otherwise I'll collapse before we even get to that demon"

"I don't think there's any escape from these things" Clary replied somberly, already positioned in a fighting stance.

Jace nodded tersely switching his hold of the seraph blade from one hand to the other "Don't worry about wasting your magic" he said, shooting the warlock the best version of his cocky grin that he could manage with a splitting headache "Get going, we'll catch up once we're done here"

Magnus was incredulous, he never thought should selfless words would ever come out of Jace's mouth. At least not aimed at him.

"I can't do that, there's too many of them, even for a dead wish as big as yours"

"You're Alec's best chance" Isabelle reminded him, not unkindly "We'll be fine, besides, I have the protection you put on this whip, remember?" she winked at him and turned to face the demon's that were now close enough to distinguish their grotesque features, most of them were iblis and shax demons, some spider ones and even a couple of dragon demons, Alec would have not been amused at seeing those again.

Clary smiled at him, Simon just nodded.

"Go" The redhead said "He needs you. We are shadowhunters, this is what we do"}

"You're also my friends, and Alec's family" he said sternly "You better catch"

Four heads nodded and urged him to leave, the demons dangerously close now.

Magnus left.

Behind him, he heard Jace laugh "Ready to kick some demon ass everyone?"

The warlock chuckled, not allowing himself a moment to worry over these mortals -and vampire- that had come to mean so much to him. They would be fine.

But Sonneillon would not be. He would make sure of that.

So, what do you guys think? Next chapter we'll have the fight from the gang's perspective, but that's not all! ;D please let me know what you think!