Chapter 7: First Dates…
2030
Will was standing in the entrance hall of the Institute, waiting worriedly. He was dressed smartly, in a dress shirt and trousers. Jordan walked into the entrance hall and immediately noticed his parabatai's anxiety. He walked over.
"What's got you so nervous, Will?" Jordan asked.
"It's my first date with Cecily tonight." Will answered, his voice showing how nervous he was about the date.
"You'll be fine. I know you will." Jordan reassured Will. "I know you, and I know my sister."
"Thank you." Will said, smiling. He then realised something else. "It isn't awkward, right? Me dating Cecily, that is?"
Before Jordan could answer, a voice came from the top of the stairs.
"I heard my name." Cecily stated, walking down the stairs. She was wearing a dress and cardigan with elbow-length sleeves. From her choice of clothes, to her hair and makeup, the sight of Cecily took Will's breath away. She was smiling brightly, and looked at Will with kind eyes. She came down the remainder of stairs and stood next to Will, looping her arm around his.
"Hey Jordan;" Cecily greeted her brother, before turning to Will. "Are you ready to go?"
Will nodded. Jordan smiled at the pair, appreciative of their happiness.
"Have a good night. Don't get home too late." Jordan instructed, despite both Cecily and Will being elder than him.
"Mum, dad, aunt Clary, and uncle Jace will be at the meeting with the vampires all night. It won't matter when we get back."
"All the same…" Jordan remarked, trailing off. Cecily and Will chuckled before exiting the Institute.
The new couple had reservations at a fancy Downworld restaurant, a few blocks away from the Institute. The inhabitants of the Institute were well known by the restaurant owner, and were quite roundly liked by the clientele the restaurant received. On the way there, the couple chatted, with the conversation's topic moving to a funny story from the pairs' childhood.
2018
It was a warm day in the middle of a bright, long, New York summer. Cecily and Will were standing in the Institute's training room, alongside mother and father, respectively.
"So, today is your first day of training." Izzy stated. This made both 5-year olds' faces light up with joy. The two parents proceeded to hand the pair various training weapons. For the rest of the session, Izzy and Jace taught their eldest children how to use the various weapons against dummies. It also gave the two parents an idea of what sort of weapon the two would be most proficient with. At one point, Izzy handed Cecily a training whip; it was nearly exactly the same as Izzy's whip, with the only differences being its length and weight. It was even made of electrum. After Izzy showed her how to use it, Cecily attempted to replicate the technique. She flipped the whip back and there was a yelp from behind the two Lovelaces. The yelp had come from Will who had been standing in justthe 'right' place to be hit by the whip. The hit had only been a glancing blow, thankfully, but had still caused Will to jolt and fall to the floor. Jace ran over to his son and helped him to stand.
"I hope that was unintentional." Jace joked.
"Sorry, Will." Cecily apologised, walking over to the Herondale. She put her hand on his shoulder, but the whip in her other hand touched Will's leg. This caused his leg to jolt and he nearly fell again.
2030
"How many times did I electrocute you?" Cecily asked, slightly embarrassed.
"I can't quite remember." Will responded. "You've never stopped apologising for it though."
"Well, I hurt you and that's not alright." Cecily responded.
"It was nearly 12 years ago, Cecily. You can stop blaming yourself." Will adopted a caring tone. They soon reached the restaurant and were lead to their table. The date went well with the couple making small chat. They were midway through waiting for their food when Cecily brought up another shared memory.
"Do you remember my 12th birthday when uncle Magnus' present went drastically wrong?" Cecily asked, nearly laughing at the memory. Will thought for a moment then nodded, also smiling.
2025
Cecily's 12th birthday took place on a cold October day. As it was their first grandchild's birthday, Robert and Maryse were visiting from Idris. Magnus and Alec were also visiting. Raphael and Max were off traveling somewhere, so couldn't attend. The Institute was full of laughter and happiness, with all the inhabitants making pleasant conversation. It came round to giving out presents. From the Herondale parents, Cecily received a copy of an old Shadowhunter story, which Cecily had been captivated by and had always wanted. It had been difficult to find another copy other than the one in the copy that was briefly borrowed from the Los Angeles Institute. Charlie's gift was to be a bit delayed, as it was her agreement to become Cecily's parabatai. Will gave Cecily a mundane DVD that had been suggested by Simon. Cecily accepted all these gifts with immense thankfulness. Meanwhile, Maryse and Robert had given Cecily a sword that had been in the Lightwood family for generations. Apparently, it had been used by Cecily's namesake back in the Victorian times. Meanwhile, Izzy and Simon had gone all out, buying a wide variety of presents for their daughter, from weaponry to more mundane presents such as books and clothes. Magnus and Alec gave Cecily an enchanted snow globe which always snowed and had moving miniature figures. However, this quickly went wrong. As Cecily held it, the snow inside began to fall quicker and quicker and the glass suddenly shattered. All eyes turned to Magnus who already had his hands up.
"That wasn't meant to happen. I didn't do it." Magnus assured the Institute's inhabitants. Maryse seemed almost ready to impale the warlock but decided against it. Thankfully, Alec had brought a less magical gift of his first training bow, which was the right size for Cecily.
2030
Will and Cecily continued to chat as they waited for their meal. When the food finally came, they ate mostly in silence for manners.
Meanwhile, the four parents were in the vampire den, talking with Lily about some recent crimes involving members of the vampire clan. Whilst usually these meetings took place in the Institute, Lily wanted to deal with the situation as soon as possible, so it would be best to have the meeting in the Hotel Dumort. They had gone over the mundane reports of the crime, as well as some information gleaned from Downworlder witnesses, which had given Lily an idea of the responsible vampire. She escorted the four Shadowhunters to the main ballroom and called over one of the vampires, who matched the description of the suspect: a dark-haired, short man dressed in casual clothes. The vampire was Orion Turner.
"Orion, these are Clary and Jace Herondale and Simon and Isabelle Lovelace." Lily introduced the Shadowhunters.
"I know who they are. What does it have to do with me?" Orion asked, sounding annoyed.
"Mr Turner, we'd like to ask you a few questions about some recent crimes." Jace stated. Orion began to smirk.
"Of course you do. It's nice to know that you completely followed his prediction." Orion stated, almost laughing. The four Shadowhunters looked at each other with confusion. However, there were shouts in the corridors heading towards the ballroom that caused all four Shadowhunters to realise something at the same moment.
"It's a trap." The four Shadowhunters remarked simultaneously. Thankfully, they had brought their usual weapons, so armed themselves. Izzy dug out her mobile phone from her back pocket and called the Institute's phone. Nobody picked up so she left a worried voicemail message.
"The vampire den is being attacked by an unknown number of hostiles." Izzy remarked. "We need as much help as possible."
She hung up then took out her whip to focus on the attack.
At the restaurant, a few minutes later, Will and Cecily's phones began to ring simultaneously. When they looked, they saw that it was their respective siblings. Worried about why Charlie and Jordan were calling at the same time, both answered their phones. They were quickly briefed on what was going on.
"Mum and dad are in danger." Charlie told Will.
"There's been an attack on the vampire den." Jordan informed Cecily. Both of the elder siblings were further informed about what was happening. Will dropped some money on the table, then the pair quickly left the restaurant and headed towards the Institute to change into gear, arm up, and join the rescue mission. When Will and Cecily reached the Institute, Jordan and Charlie were ready to head out. Will and Cecily ran into the institute and got changed into their gear. Cecily grabbed her some Seraph blades and a bow, whilst Will grabbed Seraph blades, and a set of throwing daggers. They then joined their siblings and headed towards the vampire den.
A/N: Hello! Sorry for the long hiatus. I was doing NaNoWriMo and wanted to focus on that. Hopefully, chapters will become a bit more regular again, but I'm not making any promises. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please remember to review. And as always,
Keep on Reading
-ToAC
