Pandemonium: Chapter 23
All credits obviously go to CC.

Magnus' green eyes widened tremendously and his mouth curved upwards in what slowly became a large grin. He couldn't help but become giddy at the very words that were coming out of Carstairs' mouth. Alec had agreed to meet with him. It didn't matter that he wasn't forgiven; all that mattered was Alec's willingness to listen. All he had to do was tell Alec the truth and then everything would go back to the way it was; it might even get better. Magnus was hopeful and excited at the thought, but then Carstairs thew in the caveat: the meeting would be delayed for a week. Neither of them could be distracted with the result of the meeting before the Ascension Ball, so the meeting would happen the day before.

And so began the longest week of Magnus' life. He did his best to make sure that everything was perfect for the Ascension Ball. In fact, his drive for work was unparalleled by everyone else's in the palace, except perhaps Carstairs'.

For the most part the week was uneventful for Magnus, but there was one interesting interaction: a meeting with Jace.

Jace as it turns out was entirely unhappy with the situation regarding Magnus, and was even more unhappy when he heard that Alec was willing to meet Magnus. So vast was his unhappiness with the situation that he even bothered to pay Magnus a visit, something that neither of them were too keen on. Naturally, the conversation was awkward and horrid. After pouring them more cognac (it seems that Magnus had an unlimited supply), Jace began:

"Say what you must to Alec and then stay away from him."

"And why," Magnus asked, "would I do such a thing? Would you stay away from Clary if he told you to?"

"Don't bring her and me into this; we have nothing to do with the situation."

"But don't you? Isn't your situation similar? Two star-crossed lovers doomed to be together despite the universe conspiring against you?"

"That's not the point; I'm not bad for her like you are for him. You'll hurt him and destroy him."

"And what's the guarantee that you wont do that to her? What's the guarantee that you're not doing it this very moment?"

Jace seethed with rage and shouted, "WILL YOU JUST STOP!? We have nothing to do with this. At all."

Magnus just sat back and smiled. "You know it's true."

"We'll find a way to make everything work out in the end."

"And so will we. So, do you have anything constructive to say or are we done here?"

Jace glared at Magnus and, with a huff, stormed out of the room.

Apparently, Jace wasn't too happy with the result of his conversation with Magnus. Rather than give up on his task, he tried a different angle: Alec.

Just three days before the big day, Jace walked into Alec's office where he found him staring at a piece of paper-the speech.

"So," Jace said, "it's done then?"

Alec sighed; "Just barely."

"Look. I know you're going to have that meeting with Magnus in two days, but I don't want you to make the same mistake again. He's not good for you. I know it. Just listen and then move on your merry way."

"Jace, I-I-I, I want to thank you for everything you've done for me the past week. It's been really great. I think I'm going to handle this on my own though. I need to listen to what he has to say, and then I'll decide what course of action to take. Maybe he deserves to be forgiven. Clary did."

The hair on Jace's neck stood up again. Why was everyone using Clary as an example here? "Our situation is different than yours. She didn't go off and kiss someone else. She just-she just..."

"...just threatened our entire existence by working with her father, whom I'm absolutely sure at this point is bent on my utter destruction? Yes I suppose that's not as bad as kissing someone else. And even so, she was worth forgiving."

Jace's jaw dropped. He had never seen Alec say something so cold and unforgiving before.

"She-I-She-I-We..."

"...have all been forgiven and have moved on to bigger and better things. But I'd like my relationship with Magnus, whatever it ends up becoming, to be my private affair, not yours or anyone else's."

Alec went back to staring at the piece of paper, slowly mouthing the words that were written therein. Jace took that as a dismissal. Bowing, coldly he said, "Thank you for your time Your Highness."

Despite having failed to convince the two main actors that the relationship was a bad idea, Jace went to the next best person to try to stop what he saw as the inevitable demise of Alec; he went to Izzy.

Izzy must have heard from Alec what Jace had said earlier, for she was prepared. Before even letting him start she said:

"You're here to try to convince me to help you get Alec to leave Magnus after their meeting. Alec already told me you tried with him, and I'm guessing you started by trying with Magnus. Let me get something settled here with you: I'm not Magnus' biggest fan, but I've seen how happy Alec's been with him. I know you and I agree that Magnus has hurt him, but I also have seen how much happier Alec is with him. If there's a chance that Alec won't be his usual miserable morose self for the duration of his life, then I'm willing to risk the chance of him getting hurt, and if you're truly his friend, then I think you will too."

Jace was stunned. Of all the people he thought would say something like this, Izzy was the last person to fill that role. In fact, he had imagined her with a plan to stop them from getting together long before he would have approached her. Apparently, though, she was no longer on his side. She was being complacent; yet, her argument made some sort of sense. There was the possibility of Alec truly being happy. Still, Magnus was too much of a risk.

Jace then resorted to the clearest head of them all: Carstairs.

That turned out to be a disaster, but not for the reasons that are expected.

Prescient as always, Carstairs knew exactly what Jace was there for. And much like Izzy he prevented Jace from speaking and gave him his spiel:

"Alexander is going to do what he wants to, and nothing that I say or do will stop him. Still, I have some reservations about the return of Mr. Bane to the Prince's life. True, he was happier then than ever was before that, but I still worry that all that happiness could be for naught if Mr. Bane decides to transgress again. Alexander would probably never know happiness again. But all this thinking is beyond my station. I can only advise the Prince when he asks for my advice. He has not asked my opinion on the matter and so I can do nothing. I'm sorry Mr. Wayland, but I can be of no help to you. However..."

Before Carstairs could finish, the door burst open and Clary came running in.

Breathless, she stared angrily at Jace and said, "Stop trying to meddle with Alec and Magnus."

Caught off guard, he balked and asked, "What?"

" . . . . You're making Alec really angry by doing this behind his back, and now he keeps making pointed reference to our situation and how he didn't meddle with it even though he thought you talking to me was a bad idea. Now we look bad, you look like a hypocrite, Alec is angry, and probably even more determined to make it work with Magnus just to spite you. So just stop."

Finally, Jace resigned himself with a deep sigh. He had failed. Alec was going to talk to Magnus, be convinced by some sweet false words, and then be lead to his demise in a happy trail of kisses. All things considered, Jace was happier now that he could stop. It was pointless working so hard for something that seemed so inevitable-is that was love is? This inevitable force that even the universe cannot stop? That's what it felt like with him and Clary. That must be what it felt like for Alec and Magnus. What had Magnus called them? Star-crossed lovers. That's what they were. Star-crossed lovers. And when those stars imploded in their own fiery heat, it would be a spectacular end-a supernova in name and in actuality.

The next morning, a resigned and passive Jace went to Alec and apologized. In what turned out to be curt and simple, Jace asked Alec to forgive him for his transgressions and to understand that he was just looking out for his best interests. Alec in turn took the apology into consideration, but said that he had some issues trusting Jace because of his proclivity to go behind his back to do some things. Jace claimed he understood and respected Alec's reasoning. He then proceeded to leave and end things as they were.

After Jace had left, Alec continued to memorize his speech for the ascension ball that would happen two days hence. In reality though, the majority of his focus was to the impending conversation with Magnus. It would be a very contentious meeting, that he knew. Magnus was undoubtedly going to beg him to return to him, but Alec wasn't entirely sure he was ready for that to happen.

He thought about it for a lot, but decided by the end of the day, with less than half the speech memorized, that it was best for him to let Magnus explain first, then he would make judgements.

As he was crawling into bed and the embers smoldered in the fire place, Alec hummed a little tune and excitedly slept.

Two pairs of eyes met: one was a steely cold uncaring blue, the other was a dark black that consumed all the light around it.

As they met, a silent laughter escaped. It was a brief meeting, only in passing. But as they laughed the eyes disseminated important information regarding something, something for the future, some plans to cause demise. The owner of the black eyes deftly and inconspicuously handed a vial filled with an unknown liquid to the owner of the blue eyes.

They passed each other quietly and said nothing.

Alec felt like he was on fire. It was as if the rage of a thousand (not so splendid) suns coursed through his body. They burned him from within, consuming his body. He was screaming in pain, begging for respite from the fire and the rage.

Then as if someone was there with him, his request was answered. The flames disappeared and the world turned cold.

Winter came and he was buried 6 feet under a mound of snow. The tip of his nose and his extremities turned blue. With chattering teeth, he released a cry of anguish. The tears that flooded from his eyes froze as they rolled down his cheeks. This was worse than the flames.

Alec's mind turned to the warmth he had once felt with Magnus. The feeling of being ensconced in those arms and warm. The warmth brought back the flames.

Once again, Alec was consumed with the flames. This was the product of Magnus' warmth. Without it he was frozen, but with it he would burn to death. What kind of choice was that? Freeze to death or burn to death, but in the end to die? Perhaps it was better to die in the flames of passion and love. But the slow frozen death would give him more time to fulfill his duties.

It didn't matter because the ending was the same either way: death.