The real world: Sixteen years ago
American Shadowhunter Institute
"Of course I'll marry you Henry!" Adelaide squealed in delight. Henry gallantly pushed the ring onto her finger and stood up, only to be embraced and kissed repeatedly by his now fiancé. No one in the Institute had ever seen a couple more in love than Henry and Adelaide, so when they all came running into the training room to congratulate them it came as no surprise that they'd guessed what was happening. The only person who wasn't smiling was their tutor, who also had news to impart.
"There has been an uprising in Alicante" was all he said.
"What?!" many voices shouted at once.
"Valentine Morgenstern's associates, the Circle, have intentionally disrupted the signing of the Accords and are slaughtering Downworlders" he told them, "their belief system has for a while now been based on the inferiority of Downworlder blood". There was a long silence in the room where no one knew what to say, wandering what everyone else thought about this latest development. At last it was the newly-engaged Adelaide who voiced her opinion.
"Good" she said. No one gasped or argued, but looked to her with hopeful expressions that suggested they wanted her to elaborate. "We should join them".
"As in go to Alicante? On such short notice?" someone asked sceptically.
"Actually" interjected Henry, "there are plenty of Downworlders within walking distance of this very Institute. I say we dish out a little justice of our own".
Those who survived the night would regret their actions for the rest of their lives in that world, but at the time no one voiced a single objection to carrying out such a violent task. Many asked where they should attack first, and both Henry and Adelaide knew just the place that they had wanted to completely extinguish once and for all for a very long time.
Neither Henry nor Adelaide made it back alive.
The new world: Present day
The Silent City
"Isn't it illegal to use the secret tunnels of the Silent City to cross long distances in a short space of time?" Clary asked while panting from baring the weight of Aline's upper half. Jace had offered to take that end, but Clary didn't think Jace and a girl's chest would mix well together (I'm not jealous or anything) so Jace was carrying her feet.
I'm a Silent Brother whispered the voice of Brother Zachariah in their heads (as Clary now remembered the very unique Silent Brother from before the world had changed), I can do what I want.
"How long will it take to reach New York?" it was now Jace's turn to ask a question, "and you still haven't told us everything; are you like Clary? Do you remember?"
You do ask a lot of questions. I am not one of the eight like Clarissa, but a long-time friend of mine is and she has told me the truth about the world in detail. For those who learn the truth it is their responsibility to help put it right again.
They didn't talk for the rest of the journey through the dark tunnels; the only sound was the occasional pained moans from the unconscious Aline, who Brother Zachariah said wouldn't last much longer if they didn't reach their destination soon. They eventually emerged from a tomb and into a graveyard in the middle of New York, where they gently put Aline down on the grass.
"How are we supposed to cure her?" asked Jace.
There is only one way, but we need to find your friends first and even then they might not think it wise. Clary didn't understand this; she wandered why they themselves couldn't do something to help their friend, but she didn't argue.
"Let's go find them then" she finally said.
New York: apartment
"Simon!" Maia shouted, "are you all right? What happened?" she pointed towards the dead body of Alec Lightwood, and the unconscious body of his sister. Simon and Tessa ran over to the group, where they both in turn hugged Maia like long-lost friends. "I guess some introductions are in order" Maia said in the direction of the group, before pointing towards the two members of the eight. "This is Simon Lewis and Tessa H-"
"-Gray" Tessa answered quickly, looking towards Will with an oddly sad look in her eyes, "Tessa Gray".
"And you're both members of the eight?" Horace and Jocasta asked at the same time.
"Yes" Simon replied.
"How is it decided?" Jon questioned, "why were you specifically chosen to remember?" Everyone gathered around Tessa, who they sought out as the person with the most knowledge on the subject. She sat down on the pavement, took a deep sigh, and began; "We've tried for a long time to work out this whole thing. We still don't know what reasons our common enemy had for choosing us, but there's a certain criteria that has to be met".
"According to Magnus" Simon interrupted, "the last time we spoke to him, anyway. He said that eight maintained memories were the price that had to be paid for changing the world, and that the perpetrator got to choose who it was".
"We're guessing that now Magnus has been captured he knows who is behind it all" said Maia, "but there's no way for us to contact him and find out, or try to rescue him". She sent an apologetic look towards Tessa and motioned for her to continue.
"As I was saying, he or she could only maintain the memories of certain people. They had to be people who either had died in the real world, but were brought back as a result of the changes that were made, or people who have lived long enough to have conquered death almost indefinitely".
"Something about having to already know what it's like to cross dimension boundaries in order to not be affected by the sort of changes that were made": Maia.
"We don't know about the bad guy" said Simon, "but we know how the others fit into all of this. Magnus and Tessa are (sort of) warlocks so they come into the second category. Meliorn was the same because he's a faerie, but he was executed for killing the Seelie Queen and got replaced by Maia (the rules don't apply to replacements, and they're also not chosen by the bad guy). I was a vampire, and they're technically dead, so I came back to life as a result of the changes. The others all died in the real world; including ... erm ..." everyone followed his gaze to Sebastian, who was acting the part of an innocent spectator to all this new information.
"Sebastian?" Helen asked, "are you-"
"Are you one of the eight?" Will finished.
"I didn't think you'd believe me" was his excuse, "I never make friends because they always think I'm weird and make up stories. None of them know that all the stories are true, and now that I've finally made friends I didn't want to lose you and the less you knew the better". He looked down ashamedly as Jocasta walked over to him. Sebastian winced as he expected her to hit him or start yelling, but instead she wrapped her arms around him. Horace was next to join in, followed by Will and Helen, and finally Jon.
"Friendship is about trust" said Will, "but it's also about protection and sacrifice and so much more"
"The six of us have been through too much together for this friendship to ever break, no matter which of us is alive or not or which world we're living in" added Helen.
They turned to the others and started to form a plan of action.
Sixteen years ago
American Shadowhunter Institute
(this time in the new world)
"Of course I'll marry you Henry!" Adelaide squealed in delight. Henry gallantly pushed the ring onto her finger and stood up, only to be embraced and kissed repeatedly by his now fiancé. No one in the Institute had ever seen a couple more in love than Henry and Adelaide, so when they all came running into the training room to congratulate them it came as no surprise that they'd guessed what was happening.
Everyone was smiling, even their tutor; there was no other news to impart.
A few months later
"So that's why you got married so quickly!" their friends teased.
"Don't be silly" said Adelaide, "I'm only one month pregnant!" they all laughed. Henry placed a protective hand on the stomach of his wife, the new Mrs Greenshade.
"Please can we name him after my father?" he asked hopefully.
"Really? A child named Horace is bound to get bullied by all the other young Shadowhunters, especially if we take him to train in Alicante; those city kids can be awful sometimes" she replied.
"Pleeeeeeeeeeaaassee"
"Okay. Only if it's a boy though". Everyone laughed again, but then erupted with cheers and calls as the couple kissed in front of them all.