Okay, so this took A LOT longer than I originally anticipated. I had majour writer's block with this fic and was focusing more on my Supernatural fanfic. But I'm back!

To Uchihacest Girl, I'm not gonna lie: After writing this, I did start thinking about Sephiroth. XD Then I thought of Rinoa, where she has two wings, and Sephiroth cuts her wing off and duct tapes it to his back. Heh heh. I tried to not hurt Jace too much in this chapter, Jexyna, but I have this strange feeling it didn't play out like that. To Willowfur, I feel for you. I have a short-term memory. X-x Also, glad you decided to read my fic Reipersecutoria! I'm always elated to hear that more people enjoy my stuff. =^-^=

Disclaimer: If I owned Jace, you'd all kill me.

8

SILVERLIGHT

"I think I've changed my mind."

"You're not getting out of it after we've already come this far!"

Jace frowned and traced his eyes to the diagram; he sneered at the white lines drawn in an upward pentagram; a complete contrast to the diagram from the other night. Still, there was a nagging voice in the back of his mind that pleaded not to go through with it; yet, the other half of his mind said otherwise. Something continued to seem off and he feared that things would go wrong.

Jonathan had the opportunity to take his life. He knew that he had left Jace alive, but for what reason? To feel the pain and the torment of being the essence of purity and having it stripped away? Even what he was about to do seemed so…easy. Too easy, even.

"…okay, Jace?"

Jace shook his head, his blonde hair falling in front of his face. "What?" he asked, having been lost in his thoughts.

Magnus sighed and shook his head. "I said that once we start, there will be a point where I won't be able to stop, okay?" Jace only nodded. Magnus cleared his throat and picked up a dark red-bound book from where it sat on a chair. "Go ahead and stand in the center." His apprehension was apparent – as it should be. If something happened to Jace's well-being while Magnus was in control, the backlash could be ten-fold. Everyone would be questioning what happened: Was it intentional? An accident? Is he part of some other scheme to get to Jace?

Isabelle was standing near the entrance to the glassed-in room, eyes taking in what was happening and ready to fight if anyone (or anything) came in unexpectedly. Maryse decided to make herself scarce, saying that she could not report to the Clave what she did not witness. Though it went against everything she knew to be the correct procedure, she could not stand the thought of making things even more difficult for her adoptive son. Alec stood near Magnus, shoes barely outside of the pentagram; witnessing everything the other night, he was too on-edge and wanted to be where, if needed, he could aid immediately.

As Jace stepped to the center of the white-drawn pentacle, he looked around, his heart pounding in his chest. Anticipation for the pain was what made him nervous; at least what made him even more nervous than he already was. He did not know what to expect; though, whatever it was, he knew it could not be worse than what he had already been through.

But then, why did it bother him so much?

He glanced over from Isabelle to Magnus before his eyes landed on Alec. From where he stood, it made him feel so far away from them; as though he was looking at them through the wrong side of a pair of binoculars. Alec sent him a small smile, as though trying to reassure him that everything would be fine; but the uneasiness in his smile was apparent, even if he did not notice it. However, Jace returned the same gesture. It did little to put him at ease. He looked back at Magnus and nodded, finally signaling that he was ready – or, at least, as ready as he was going to be. He watched as Magnus sighed and opened the book, flipping to the right page.

"Για τους αγγέλους της σφαίρας δαίμονα, Σας παρουσιάζω μια μισό-φυλή." The white pentagram began to emit a soft glow of silver, casting shadows throughout the room. Jace's eyes jerked around, watching the entire form light up. Alec had finally uncrossed his arms and Isabelle tried to look on with little interest, but failed with her eyebrows rising. "Όπως και εσείς, έχετε τα φτερά του έχουν καταστραφεί από τις εν λόγω ανίερη. Βάλτε τα χέρια σας πάνω του - Σας παρακαλώ." Jace's body tensed when he began feeling hands touch his body – though not grabbing him, they felt as though they were simply setting themselves on him just to touch. His eyebrows began to move upwards, creating creases in his forehead. Magnus swallowed and continued: "Με το χέρι της καταστροφής, να πτέρυγα του. Με το χέρι του ρεύματος, πάρτε την καρδιά του."

Jace suddenly jerked, feeling hands grab his stubbed wing. He released a gasp and clutched at his chest mere moments afterwards, feeling as though something had taken hold of his heart and was squeezing it, trying to get it to burst. He tried to inhale a deep breath, but his airway was becoming restricted and he was finding it difficult to get the air he needed. He dropped his hands and knees, right hand still grabbing at his chest as his breath wheezed.

"Jace!" Magnus stretched his arm out beside him, blocking Alec when the Shadowhunter stepped forward, his face distraught. He jerked his attention to Magnus, who was not even looking up from the book.

He only shook his head as he continued reading. "Δαίμονες, μεταρρύθμιση σπασμένη φτερούγα αυτός ο άγγελος, επιτρέποντάς του να έρθει ως έναν πεσμένο άγγελο όπως και ο δάσκαλός σας, ο Εωσφόρος." Jace's hands tightened to fists, nails digging into his palm and chest, drawing blood as the small wing-stub began shaking violently. He managed to take shallow breaths, eyes clenched shut at the wing began to heal, forming to a complete, small wing. Seeing it heal, Alec's and Isabelle's eyes widened in awe; that was until more words were spoken from the book.

Taking a deep breath, Magnus spoke, "Ανίερο κειμήλια, συντρίψει τα φτερά του, τον καταδικαστικά όπως εσείς."

Jace's wings could be seen bending, as though their bones were being forced to bend in ways they could not. Jace continued gasping, trying to get in air, his eyes wide as the bones began making a cracking noise, searing pain shooting down the wings and his back. Feeling as though hundreds of hands were all trying to gain access to the wings, they were being bent in multiple directions. The sound of hundreds of cracks echoed through the room just as Jace finally gained breath. As the bones snapped under the pressure, Jace released an ear-shattering scream as he collapsed to the floor and began clawing at the floor for relief. Alec and Isabelle could only watch in horror as the full wing collapsed, the bones in it completely broken and shattered; the small, healed half-wing did not fare much better and it fell limp against his back.

With his jaw clenched, Magnus tried to avoid looking up, not wanting to see the scene that he was causing. The large wing dragged on the floor, twitching violently as Jace crawled to the inner boundary of the pentacle, tears staining both sides of his face. He stopped before he crossed it, falling; his cheek pressed against the floor with his eyes clamped shut, body shaking.

"Please…make it stop…," he cried out as wave after wave of pain radiated down his back.

"What are you doing to him?" Isabelle yelled as she crossed the room to Magnus and Alec, her eyes wide and shining as she could only watch her adoptive brother's pain.

Alec stared at Magnus. "You have to stop – it's going to kill him!"

Magnus snapped his head to Alec. "I can't just stop, Alec."

"Magnus!"

"We've come too far!" he shouted, voice bouncing off of the walls. Jace appeared to be unable to hear them inside the pentacle, his eyes opened to slits and staring at the white glow as water splashed onto the floor. His mouth moved, but his voice was inaudible. "If I stop, now, he's going to stay like this and there won't be any way to go back." He shook his head, looking at the broken figure in front of them. "We have to keep going."

Alec's eyebrows furrowed upwards as he looked back to Jace, eyes glazed over. He only nodded, giving the silent 'okay' to continue. Magnus took the response and brought his attention back to the book.

"Διάσπαση στο πίσω μέρος αυτού σπασμένα άγγελος και να επιστρέψουν ό, τι κάποτε ήταν μέσα."

Just like before, Jace felt hundreds of hands on him, tearing at his back. His entire body tensed and he tried to gather back to his hands and knees as fresh tears began ripping down his back. He released another yell as blood began falling from the splits, dripping down and over the sides of his back, pooling at the front of his shirt. Trying to stifle another yell, he pressed his forehead to the floor, water falling and hitting the floor. The hands that were on him pulled at the wings, forcing them straight up; the yell he kept trying to bite back finally emitted from his throat when the wings were pulled tight, stretching to where the full wing nearly touched the ceiling.

It all came crashing down like a weight when he felt as though there were hands inside his back, pulling the wings down as hands on the outside of the wings shoved them down. Broken cries escaped his throat as he felt the shattered bones entering his body, feeling as though they were being folded to rest on his shoulder blades. The smaller wing was finally in, which only left the full wing to be pulled violently: It slowly disappeared into his back. Jace collapsed to the floor as the final end of the wing entered his back; his eyes stared blankly in front of him, half-opened as tears fell free.

The silver light from the pentagram slowly began to fade and Magnus closed the book, letting it sit next to him in his hand. Glancing to Magnus, the look on his face meant that it was over; but when Alec tried to cross into the pentagram, he was thrown back and the runes lit up again, sending blinding silver light shooting up in the shape of the diagram – pillar of light that hit the ceiling. Magnus stared up at the waterfall of light and Isabelle snapped her head to look at him.

"What's happening?" she cried out as Alec managed to get back to his feet.

Magnus pulled the book back up, flipping through it; anxiety clear on his face. "I – I don't know!" he sputtered. He turned through page after page. "This isn't supposed to happen!"

Alec's focus was solely on Jace's limp figure, his eyes wide and eyebrows hidden under his hair as his heart pounded in his chest, feeling as though it would burst from his ribcage. Frantically, Magnus was flipping through the book, trying to find something to stop or explain what was going on.

"Uh – uh! Δαίμονες του Εωσφόρου, αφήνεται ελεύθερος σας! Ο Άγγελος δεν είναι τίποτα περισσότερο!" Magnus shouted words from the book, pulling his head up, but nothing happened.

"Magnus, do something!" Isabelle yelled at him as she focused on Jace; he lay unmoving.

"I'm trying!" he yelled back, returning to look through pages.

The silver light intensified, blocking their view of Jace altogether as streams of light continued to shoot to the ceiling. Releasing a growl, Alec reached to his sister's leg, pulling out the dagger she kept strapped to her leg. He bent down and began scraping at the outer circle of the diagram, creating a split – a broken line through the circle. Again, he was thrown back, landing on his back; but creating a split in the diagram seemed to do what he was hoping it would. The light died out and they were back to being able to see Jace.

He had not moved.

As he pushed himself to his feet, he noticed red blood dripping from Jace's mouth and onto the floor. Before Isabelle or Magnus could stop him, Alec crossed the threshold, running and dropping to his knees at Jace's side.

"Jace!" he cried out, grabbing Jace's shoulder and leaning down to look at his comrade's face. Jace only stared blankly back, unmoving as blood ran down his chin. He snapped his head to Isabelle and Magnus. "Something's wrong!" he said before bringing his attention back to the blond. Isabelle and Magnus glanced at each other before Isabelle followed after Alec, leaving Magnus to break all the way through the diagram to make sure there was not another relapse. Alec leaned to look at Jace's back, cringing at seeing the large gashes followed by spilling blood. He pulled his attention back to Jace's face and set his hand on the side of his face, running his hand through his hair. "Come on, Jace. It's over," he said, forcing a smile as he tried to get a response. He barely registered Isabelle bending to her knees next to him.

"What is that?" Isabelle asked, fret in her voice as she motioned to his shoulder.

Alec glanced to see what she was talking about.

There stood a rune in red – one they had never seen before. It looked as though it had been burned onto his shoulder by a branding iron. Alec shook Jace after he broke his attention to the rune. "Jace, wake up!" he shouted, shaking his ally. Jace's blonde hair fell over his face, but no other reaction was garnered.

They heard footsteps behind them and Magnus shoved himself between Alec and Isabelle. Isabelle could not help but glance over her shoulder: There was a long line through the diagram, breaking it. Her attention was drawn back to Magnus when he held up the same dagger Alec had taken from her. "Dóiteáin," he muttered and the dagger glowed red, as though he had been pulled from hot coals.

"What are you doing?" Isabelle asked as Magnus brought the glowing red metal closer to Jace's shoulder.

"Just like the diagram"—he pressed the dagger to Jace's shoulder—"it has to be warped to be broken." There was the sizzling sound of burning flesh and Jace gave a violent jerk, his eyes flying open as he gasped. Magnus pulled the dagger away and stood up, stepping back to give Isabelle better access. Alec immediately pulled Jace against his chest, embracing him as the other released broken, muffled cries of agony.

Ignoring the questions tearing at her, Isabelle set her hand on Alec's shoulder. "Come on. Let's get him to his room so he can recover."

Alec nodded, still staying silent. Shifting to where the bottom of his feet were on the floor under his knees, Alec moved Jace to where he had one arm under his upper back and the other arm halfway under his thighs. With Isabelle's help, he took to a stand, carrying Jace cradle-style. Jace clenched his eyes and jaw from the pain the pressure put on his back, but did not shout out. They heard him mutter, "I can walk" a few times, but the pain-filled expression on his face spoke louder than his stoic whispers.

One more chapter - and it's a long-awaited one! I can promise you all that. ;D