Espérons Inutiles

A Mortal Instruments Fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Mortal Instruments. Any familiar names, places, etc. are property of Cassandra Clare.

Chapter 2: Pas assez de temps

After that, his eyes fell upon Jace, Clary, and Isabelle. He hadn't seen them in years…

But that wasn't the worst.

Behind them, not bothering to hide himself whatsoever, was Magnus

Alec froze at the sight of his ex. Magnus hadn't changed at all. He still had the crown of glittery spikes adorning his head, and, today, he wore a billowy, bright yellow shirt with leather pants the colour of fuchsia. Alec tried to stop himself from panicking. Nothing. Never. Think of five. Alec retreated to his safety number. Ziyi and Aaron were in the room. That was two. He decided to include his siblings and Clary. That made five. Alec didn't feel better, just a little reassured. With that out of the way, he took in his friends.

They'd all grown since he'd last seen them. Jace was very close to Alec's height, perhaps one inch shorter. He looked less like the angst-ridden teen Alec remembered and more like a man now. He stood possessively near Clary, who also looked a great deal older. No taller, but she still seemed to carry herself. While Jace stood close, as though he was proclaiming that he owned her, Clary stood on her own ground, not leaning on Jace in any way. Isabelle looked older of course, and, Alec started, she looked a lot like their mother.

Alec nodded to them, unable to say anything without knowing how they would react.

All of them looked a little surprised at Alec's appearance. He didn't doubt he looked disheveled, but he'd also attempted to not to seem so miserable. He had trashed his sweaters long ago (every time in the mirror, a voice in his head that sound awfully like Magnus would whisper, "Honestly, Alec. Really? You have to start wearing more colours! This is ridiculous," and so on). At the moment, Alec was wearing low riding jeans and a simple white T-shirt. He knew that his hair had grown a couple inches, and that he must have a bit of stubble; he forgot to take a razor with him when he'd left with Haal. Alec compared his old look to the look he sported now. He imagined they thought he'd aged quite a bit, too.

Ziyi was the one to break the awkward silence that had hung over them since Alec had walked in. "Is Miguel coming?" she asked in a tired voice. Alec nodded. Right on cue, Miguel walked into the library, looking just as disheveled as Alec. Ziyi sighed and attempted to continue on without screaming at the two of them.

"Now that everyone's here, would you care to explain why you are here?" she asked very politely. Jace nodded.

"Well, it's not so much that we came for a social call, more for a mission we're already working on," he explained. Alec noted his voice sounded very tired. "We've been tracking someone, likely a warlock, who seems to have a vendetta against the Clave."

"Vendetta?" asked Aaron, wanting more of an explanation.

Isabelle gave it. "About a year ago, it was found that the necropolis in Alicante had been disturbed. Several stones had been destroyed. After that, several explosions took place in Alicante. It's been getting worse all year. About four months ago, he attacked the Institute back home in New York," for some reason, her eyes flickered to Alec here, "and we actually fought against him." Aaron raised his eyebrows.

"That would have been an interesting fight."

"It was very well-matched," Jace assured him. "Magnus was with us at the time. He's helped a lot in this investigation," he added, surprisingly, without any maliciousness.

"The Clave asked us specifically to try and detain this man," Clary said. "Also, because it's a warlock we're looking for, the Council wanted a warlock working on this case too, so they requested that Magnus come with us."

"So, your search led you to Sydney?" Miguel asked, rather bitterly, Alec noted. It was the first time he'd spoken, and none of the guests seemed to have missed the tone in Miguel's voice. They all nodded. Ziyi stepped forwards.

"We'll be happy to assist you in any way possible," she assured them, and they all thanked her.

"We know this guy's tricky," said Isabelle. "And we'll definitely need all the help we can get. We think this may be his last stop." She seemed to move very slowly as she spoke, and Alec noted how dark it was under her eyes.

"We'll need to hear what you've learned so far," said Aaron, but Alec interrupted him.

"Aaron, you do realize that Sydney is fourteen hours ahead of New York City?"

"Yes, but what- oh!" He realized what Alec meant immediately. "Of course, you all must be exhausted."

"Alec?" Ziyi addressed him. "Can you escort our guests to some rooms? I'm sure we have at least four available." Alec nodded but Clary then assured them that Magnus was going to be staying somewhere else in the city. The warlock in question spoke quietly to Ziyi for a moment before leaving. Alec didn't allow himself to move an inch before he was gone. At least Alec didn't have to worry about him being too near.

The other three didn't seem to want to take this time to rest, but they couldn't hide their exhaustion. Alec escorted them to the bedrooms. He hadn't taken three steps out the library door when he felt someone tug him around and hug him. It was Isabelle. He hugged her back.

"God, I missed you," she muttered. Alec wondered why she had just said it to him instead of trying to assert that she couldn't care less about her brother.

"You too, Izzy."

Jace sauntered over and gave him what Aaron would have called a man hug. "It's good to see you." Alec just nodded in return. There was something in the air between them that he couldn't place. Clary was a different story. She gave him a tight hug as soon as Jace moved out of the way.

"God, you look so different!" she exclaimed.

"No sweaters?" asked Isabelle, causing Alec to grin wryly.

"It's too warm here for those sweaters. I haven't worn them in a while." Isabelle smiled as he spoke.

"You also picked up an accent."

Alec was a little surprised by this. It couldn't be helped, he supposed. Save for Ziyi and Miguel, everyone he spoke to nowadays was an Aussie. He tried to smile wider. "I thought you guys were exhausted."

Isabelle nodded blearily. "We had to leave at two in the morning, because we were assuming that it might be better for us to come some time in the afternoon."

"It was a horrible trip," Jace commented. "We had to come through a portal in the outside yard. Imagine how we must have looked standing outside in summer clothes in the middle of winter. Well, actually, I'm pretty sure I blinded some girls who were passing by." And Alec laughed. Isabelle looked a little surprised. In the years he'd spent away, Alec had become much more familiar with laughter.

"Um, here's one of the larger rooms," he gestured towards one. He looked towards Jace and Clary. "Will you two…"

"Yes!" proclaimed Jace without even hesitating. He took both his and Clary's bags and dashed inside. Clary shook her head.

"I think he had orders from my mother not to share a room with me." Alec chuckled again. Clary followed him inside, leaving the siblings out in the hall together. Isabelle honestly looked rather awkward with the situation. Isabelle! Awkward! Alec was very confused by his family.

"Alec-"

"How about this," he offered, "you get the sleep you need, and we'll talk when you're awake." He waited for her answer, and she smiled and accepted. She followed him to the next room, and helped her bring her bags in. She thanked him quietly.

"It really is good to see you." She seemed unusually sincere as she said it to him, something that unnerved Alec. By now Alec was very confused by the lot of them, so he just nodded and hurried out.

He ran up to his room, determined to get there before Miguel. He managed it, and he promptly locked the door and flopped onto the bed. What was going on? His family seemed so different. Jace and Isabelle both seemed so… serious. It was frightening. Clary was still Clary, though that still unnerved Alec in itself. And why had they brought… him? Alec hadn't had any warning whatsoever, and it scared him to know that he was so close. Alec had tried so hard to forget about him. It wasn't like Isabelle to not give him any notice.

Then again, Alec thought, she hardly notified him of anything anymore. They didn't really keep in contact. Sure, they'd tried to call each other regularly. The phone calls had gotten more difficult, because Alec was starting to go on his voyages with Haal, and Isabelle had gotten in trouble for running the phone bill from long conversations with Alec. It wasn't cheap for her to call Australia regularly. They'd tried email, but it was the voyages again that made it difficult for Alec to keep the commitment. They had eventually resorted to snail mail, but it was too annoying for either of them to commit to. After two years, Alec had completely dropped contact with his sister. The story was similar and shorter with Jace; they had given up after a few phone calls. He'd begun to suspect that Jace would never forgive him for leaving. Alec's parents sent him a letter from time to time, but other than that, Alec hadn't any contact with his family back home.

None of them knew about Haal or Miguel. They didn't know that he'd gained fluency in Spanish and Cantonese, as well as picking up on Australian slang. They didn't know about Alec's life now, not one bit of it. And, or course, Alec knew nothing of their life back home. This news about a rampant warlock was a complete surprise to him. Alec knew this was another thing to feel guilty for. Three things now, Haal, Miguel, and not bothering to keep in contact with his family. He only needed two more things, and he might begin to feel better about the guilt.

He wondered how Isabelle might take the news about Haal and Miguel. Would she actually be proud? Or would she be furious? He didn't know what she was like now, and it was hard to judge it based on the person he'd known growing up. The person he was now hadn't existed then, so he hadn't the slightest clue. After a few moments of silence, Alec came to the conclusion that it might just be better not to mention it. What Isabelle didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Alec heard a sharp knock on his door, and he knew it to be Miguel. He hesitated before getting up and opening it. Miguel looked just as upset as he had in the library. And Alec wasn't in the mood to humor him.

"What's wrong?" he asked bluntly. Miguel scowled at him. He shouldn't have to say, but, again, Alec didn't feel up to being nice to him.

"It was wrong of them to bring him here." He hissed the words at Alec, almost as if they were his fault. Alec raised his eyebrows.

"Well, you've been here for the past seven weeks. Didn't they call beforehand?" Miguel hesitated to answer, but he always caved to Alec.

"They did. They just never mentioned-"

"It wouldn't have made a difference if they had," Alec said coldly. He now had a valid reason to be upset with Miguel. He had known about his family coming, and he hadn't even told Alec. Damn him, Alec thought savagely, then decided that Miguel hadn't mentioned it because he cared about Alec and wanted him to be happy. Damn me, Alec decided.

"Si, it would have!" and he launched into a tirade of fast Spanish curses. Alec watched the whole thing, rather bored as he did. Alec got fed up with it halfway through, and he headed over to his dresser, pulling some money out of one of the drawers. He grabbed his coat and strode back over to the door. Miguel had stopped cursing and now stared at Alec.

"I'm going out," he stated simply.

"You just got back!" he called after Alec, who promptly ignored him. "ALEC!" Miguel continued being ignored.

Alec was almost down the end of the hall when he heard Miguel mutter, "You are cruel to me." At that, Alec froze. Well, it was Miguel's choice to pursue Alec; someone he knew would probably never reciprocate his feelings and treat him as a lover should.

"It's not my fault you're senseless and masochistic," he said, loudly enough so he knew that Miguel could hear him.

Out of all his reasons to feel guilty, Miguel was the least pressing. He hurt himself by using Alec, yet he insisted in pursuing Alec. They both knew the problems and risks associated with this affair. As far as their problems went, Alec knew that he was not the one trying to inject every feeling into it. Miguel was the one who insisted that every loving moment be long and tender, that he must throw all his energy and passion into something that would only end badly. Alec was, at least, being realistic.

AN: Meh. What was that? I'm hitting my head on the wall right now, partially because of the ending, as well as the lame dialogue, and a touch of masochism. I almost feel the need to apologize for the lack of anything. Next chapter will be long; I swear on my iPod. I guess I decided to let Alec off easy for now, but don't worry, I've still got the big Magnus confrontation planned. Well, I hope you liked it. Just saying, I'm terrified of approaching this dialogue, though I'm gonna work on it. I guess it's just… they haven't seen each other in years, haven't spoken to each other in years, and it's hard to go all out reunion mode when half the group still feel like it's two in the morning. I really hope I got the time zone thing right. Call me out if it's not right, please.

Thanks for reading! Reviews might not make me update faster, but it's a great boost of confidence, as well as a reason to keep on writing.