Pandemonium: Chapter 26
Everything belongs to C.C. because you know...brilliant and awesome and brilliant.
SO SO SO SO Sorry that this is like a billion weeks late. Life hit me like a truck speeding down I-90 in Montana. (Unrelated Side Note: I have never been down the I-90 in Montana, so I apologize in advance to all the truckers who go at the designated speed limit) Feel free to be very very very angry with me in reviews.

Bodies pressed together, squirming with delight. The scent of a thousand different perfumes, joining together into one intoxicating stench. The cries of delight as thousands of people caught a glance mixed with the grunts and coughs of people stepping over toes. Elbows became weapons to push others out of the way. Women hitched up their dresses in an attempt to run forward, not caring whose feet were pierced by their heels. What should have been a classy affair had turned into a commotion quite unbecoming of a crowd of this stature. The first and second estates had become the sans culottes, and in the background the sans culottes stood laughing.

Magnus drew himself up to his fullest height and peered over everyone else's head. Trapped deep within the cacophony of a thousand bodies begging for his touch, was Alec.

Under normal circumstances Alec despised crowds. When crowds became mobs and started to rush over to him, threatening to trample him and Izzy he realized that despised didn't quite describe the feeling. During the speech he had managed to remain free of any queasiness; now, however, that had changed. All the people begging to speak to him, to touch him, to gaze at him and judge him even more were just too much. He wanted to crawl into a corner and vomit, piss himself, and possibly shat himself whilst crying. He would prefer the cold, dark, dank jail cell of his nightmares to this. Magnus and Izzy strived on attention like this. It was perfect for them. It was anathema to his very being.

The crowds pressed in closer and hundreds of faces, expressing wonder and amazement, were lined up to greet him, to shake his hands and to utter words of meaningless praise. He needed to space.

His lungs refused to take in breaths. The pace of his heart quickened as the blood rushed to his head. He was flushed and afraid. His legs felt weak and shaky. Beads of sweat slowly formed on top of his head and he felt flushed. Tiny little black spots appeared everywhere in his vision, blocking out most of the faces. The roar slowly dulled into a soft buzz, and time slowed down incredulously. He watched as faces stared at him peculiarly and perhaps even a little worriedly as if something was happening.

Then he was snapped back into reality. The crowd had moved back and his lungs had decided on their own accord to let air come back in. Some luminous being blinded his vision, almost as if a golden angle had come to save him.

Of course it turned out that a particular golden angle had come to save him. Jace was angrily staring at everyone telling them to back off from Alec. Momentarily almost everyone's attention was drawn to Jace rather than Alec. Doing his best to regain his composure, Alec smiled weakly at Jace, thanking him for the moment to regain his aplomb. Then he turned to the people that surrounded him. Smiling in the most gregarious manner, he shook every hand and exchanged platitudinous pleasantries with all of them. He made his way forward, knowing that somewhere in the front stood Queen Charlotte, and who know what she had to say…

Even though he was acting engaged in every single conversation and engagement, Alec seemed distant and reserved. More than once, Izzy caught him glancing upwards or around looking for something, or more specifically someone.

Magnus was nowhere to be found. Everywhere Alec looked he couldn't find a pair of gold-flecked green eyes or spiked up glistening hair.

Then he saw him, deep in the corner with another man who was dressed in a lot of green, engaged in a serious conversation. It took Alec every milligram of self-control to not rush to Magnus. Instead he calmed down a bit, knowing that Magnus was near, and started to re-engage himself with the people that surrounded him.

Names flew by him, as did requests for this or that. Questions were asked, that he only nodded to or deferred to a different date. The entire time the crowd pushed him in the direction of the Queen, who seated on her dais, looked as regal and bitchy as ever. She looked entirely bored with the entire proceedings and completely unimpressed with everything around her. Festivities were apparently beneath her.

By the time Alec finally made it to the Queen he never wanted to touch another hand ever again, or meet that many people at the same time. The smile he had was very disingenuously plastered to his face, making it extremely uncomfortable to open his mouth wide enough for loud conversation. It was going to take him a long time to wipe that smile off his face.

With the insincere smile broadly gleaming at the Queen, he bowed deeply. For once she didn't laugh. Instead she said, "Prince Alexander, your speech was a delight to hear. I was particularly impressed by your delivery. I see that the noble council has chosen a wonderful successor for me. Many congratulations on an excellent ascension, I cannot wait for your investiture in a few months."

The crowd went wild again, cheering more for Alec than for the Queen. That was the most generic congratulatory statement he had received so far. In fact it had sounded more rehearsed than anything he had ever heard in his life. It didn't help that the Queen said it in her toneless, bored-to-death voice. Her face had been devoid of expression, except for cold contempt. It seemed like nothing had changed whatsoever. She still despised him, not that it was surprising.

Alec thanked the Queen with as much graciousness as he could muster. It must have been enough because the crowd continued to cheer and she put on her own fake smile, announcing that it was time to eat.

He was stuck at a terrible table for dinner, far away from Magnus and Jace. Instead he was stuck with the Queen on his left and Izzy on his right, and neither were really good at making dinner conversation. The Queen droned on about something or the other involving the Treasury; it had to do with this new inventive policy that one of the mind-numbing bankers had created. Izzy on the other hand was far too engaged in an even more wearisome conversation with Clary, who happened to be on her right, about the way particular people were dressed. There were various vacuous comments about how that person's dress was entirely inappropriate, and how that gentleman cleaned up more nicely that either of them could have imagined. Clary seemed just about as mentally strained as Alec was by the conversation. The two of them probably could have had a more interesting conversation about art or something, but it was highly unlikely.

Finally the dreadful part of the evening—dinner—was over. Alec found himself surrounded again by a myriad of faces he didn't recognize, but one face towered above all the rest, a gleaming Magnus.

Smiling, and shaking his hand warmly—Alec noted that this was a very odd physical gesture for the two of them, considering that most of their interactions involved a very different form of touching—he began to introduce him to a number of the people around. This group of well wishers were apparently important enough to be friends or acquaintances of Magnus, something that clearly indicated their good character.

The first person he introduced was a "long time old friend" by the name of Ragnor Fell, the man in green—lots and lots of green. Ragnor greeted him magnanimously with warmth and sparkling eyes. As he stepped back from Alec he seemed to have a twinkle in his eyes, as if he knew something that he shouldn't. Alec wasn't entirely certain, but he felt as if there had been a wink somewhere in there.

The next person he was introduced to was a woman that Magnus didn't seem to fond of. She glowed happily enough and seemed to love touching Magnus. She may have been a bit tipsy, but Alec couldn't really tell. She went by the name of Jessamine Flower, and was a bit too giddy for his liking. Perhaps she really was that vapid, or perhaps she thought that the act would interest Magnus. Yet for all her attempts at advances, she failed miserably to attract Magnus' attention. Alec, however, had turned a delightful shade of red from what appeared to be jealousy, though nobody seemed to notice, or if they had, they said nothing. Noticing Alec's obvious displeasure, Magnus quickly and kindly moved her to the side and into the waiting arms of some gleaming young gentleman.

Following that distasteful display, Magnus introduced-in rapid succession-a number of jolly old friends. Namely, Catrina Loss (who also gave him that same look that Ragnor had) and Woolsey Scott (who eyed him with a certain amount of jealousy). Both of their introductions were rather trite, and all the while Magnus seemed to be bubbling with excitement about something or the other.

And then, the bubbling Magnus vanished entirely. Alec turned around in circles for a few moments of immense confusion, not knowing where exactly a giant six-foot tall sparkly man could have gone. Eventually he caught Jace's eye. With a raised eyebrow, Alec motioned to ask, "Any idea where Magnus went?" Jace replied with furrowed eyebrows and a shrug of the shoulders that expressed the phrase "I haven't the slightest clue," rather poignantly.

His eyes skirted the crowds around him. People were still crowding around him, but he was able to keep them relatively at bay with some kind empty gestures and monotoned responses.

He was saved from the ennui of those actions by the immediate reappearance of Magnus. From somewhere he had returned, and in tow had a couple with linked arms. The boy struck him with the familiarity of his looks; it was somewhat similar to looking into a mirror. He too had a massive shock of black hair (though his had not been tamed by a team of psychopaths) and blue orbs. Yet there were discernible differences. His features just a bit softer, his expression just a bit more pained, his eyes more distant and reserved. If one thing was similar though, he seemed completely and utterly reluctant to even be there. That shouldn't have come to a surprise since both of them looked a bit flushed from dancing. After his quick analysis of the boy, he turned to the girl. She seemed pretty, in a plain ordinary way. Her features were soft and kind. The brown hair fell in ringlets behind a sweet disposition that was constructed upon her face as a result of red lips parted so lightly for a smile. The feature that fit perfectly in the portrait was her eyes, grey spheres that expressed fierce love, and an even fiercer determination. Whatever she chose to do, she completed that action. There was no denying it; those features could go from lovely to frightening in a minute.

His slightly longer analysis of the girl gave Magnus enough time to drag them to where he was standing. They were promptly introduced as William Herondale and Tessa Gray. Magnus babbled on incessantly about how they were old friends (were all of Magnus' friends old?) from times gone by. He spoke very highly of both of them, especially of Will whose bravery and mentioned one too many times for Alec's taste. Tessa was also mentioned for her bravery, her friendliness, and for her new position-which interested Alec mildly-as the newly appointed Queen's High Counsel.

They in turn were taking a keen interest in Alec, staring at him rather intently. The boy, who had introduced himself as Will, made a point to continuously look back and forth between Magnus and Alec with a look of confusion and mild interest. That was until something apparently dawned on him and he ducked his head down. All of this was done while Tessa was discussing her new prosecutorial duties, and how she adored the speech. Especially the part about justice and fighting for the weak. Alec made a point to remember Tessa and discuss a few things with her after this whole ordeal was over. She would be very useful to have around, especially if he ever became king.

He was about to pull Tessa aside and start talking about a number of things, but his arm was suddenly grabbed. He turned around to face Izzy, who demanded that he dance with her. Rolling his eyes unhappily, Alec acquiesced to the request.

Upon landing on the dance floor, Alec realized just how truly tired he was. It had been a long day memorizing the speech and getting ready. Such an endeavor had never before been taken by him, and now dancing to some fast paced music with his effervescent sister, he realized his only current desire was to sleep. A long deep warm sleep in Magnus' arms.

*THWACK*

Alec woke up from his daze, to see Izzy glaring at him furiously. Apparently he had lethargically stopped dancing with her and started to stare into space. Denying Izzy the attention that she craved? Blasphemous! It was no wonder his punishment had been both public and corporal. Trying to keep his thoughts in his head and focused, Alec did his best to dance and listen to Izzy's ramblings without seeming too bored.

His concentration was then disturbed by a tap on his shoulder.

A very unhappy looking Clary looked at him with soft, sad eyes. She motioned to Izzy something that Alec couldn't distinguish, and before he knew it, it was Clary who was in his arms, not Izzy. He looked at her with confusion, but the look on Clary's face summarily silenced any questions. There was going to be a discussion about this later, they needed to fake through some parts now. He turned his head ever so slightly to see two things:

Magnus and Jace in a corner staring at them unhappily, muttering rather unseemly things.

Valentine and Charlotte on the dais staring down at them and smiling broadly in a self-important way, thinking that their grand plan was working.