Disclaimer: I am not Cassandra Clare, the author, and I most certainly do not own the Mortal Instruments or the universe it is based on. This is my personal take on CoHF, and this has not been approved in any way by Clare.

II ~•o•o•~ Duress ~•o•o•~ II

Simon heard a scream echo through the cavern. An unmistakably feminine scream.

"Isabelle!" he yelled. "Where are you?"

Another incomprehensible scream came in response.

"Isabelle!" Simon reiterated.

Simon looked around. Across from him was an unconscious Alec, with shackles at his wrists that connected him to the wall. Simon was also chained to his side of the wall, but whenever he tried to move or struggle, his wrists would burn.

"Blessed metal. Burns vampires," Alec murmured.

If it were even possible in his chains, Simon jumped. "I... didn't know you were awake."

"I'm only half-conscious. My head hurts like crap - ow. I need an iratze, but obviously you don't have a stele and you can't draw one. So I guess Sebastian's just gonna lay us out here to die. Or in here, rather."Alec continued, "I need runes. Strength runes, speed runes, soundless runes, and all the battle runes I can get..."

Simon spoke resignedly, "You know I can't help you in that department." After a long silence, Simon spoke again, "What does he want with us? I mean, I get why Sebastian would want to take you, since you're a Shadowhunter and he probably would want to turn you into one of them. But why me? Of what use am I to him?"

"You're a Daylighter, after all. The rarest breed of vampires I've ever known. The only one in existence. Lilith was able to use you to resuscitate Sebastian, so who knows if your blood possesses some other mysterious mystical properties?"

"He's going to kill us, isn't he?" Simon stated. "Well, me more so. I think he'd rather turn you into one of his servants."

"I'd rather die than join him."

Isabelle's scream resonated through the room once again.

Simon shook his head. "They're torturing her into madness, aren't they?"

Just then, a very mutilated Isabelle, flanked by two guards - one on each side of her - stumbled into the dim room. Before she hit the floor, the guards yanked her upright, and a shrill laugh came from behind them.

A very familiar laugh.

"Sebastian," Alec hissed.

"Oh, look! It's the gay," Sebastian pointed out sarcastically, now standing in front of Isabelle, facing Alec and Simon.

Simon looked at Alec for his response, expecting a blush or something, and though Alec was red, he was more flushed with anger than embarrassment.

"What have you done to my sister?" Alec demanded.

"Exactly what she did to my hand before I came back to this realm," Sebastian said, playing with the silver bracelets at his wrists. "I flogged her with her own whip. Unfortunately I wasn't able to saw off any body parts, since I'm not that adept in using her string of electrum."

"You should rot in hell where you belong," Alec screeched. "You and your demon blood should stay in the Infernal realms."

"Consider yourself lucky, because today I'm feeling lenient. I'd normally have you flogged for saying that." Sebastian took out Isabelle's whip and held it out to her.

"Release her," he ordered to his guards and they complied. "Here, Isabelle. Take this, and whip your boyfriend."

Boyfriend?

"Boyfriend...?" Isabelle stuttered, perplexed. She glanced at Alec, then at Simon, and her eyes widened. "No."

"You know what will happen to your brother if you don't," Sebastian taunted. "Why does it matter? He'll heal from his injuries anyway."

"No."

"Fine. Then whip your brother instead."

"No!" Isabelle screamed in horror.

"Brother or boyfriend. Which one will it be?"

For a moment, Isabelle just stood there, her eyes wide, with her expression displaying how much terror she was under. Then she moved towards Simon, and flogged him on the cheek. The pain was so acute Simon was tempted to scream out in agony, but he wouldn't give Sebastian the satisfaction.

"That's right, my dear. Keep flogging him; 30 lashes around?" Sebastian sneered.

Isabelle acquiesced in her orders, and by the time the pain was over, Simon had so many lash marks on his face his body failed to recuperate.

Sebastian walked over to Isabelle's side and brushed off a tear from her eye mockingly.

"Well done. Now take your whip, this memory, and your memory of torture before, and go home. Tell Jace that if he does not return to my side along with my sister, I will use these two for the Ritual." Sebastian pointed at Alec and Simon. "To summon me, take this bottle and crush it under your feet." Sebastian handed Isabelle a small phial of pink liquid. "Whosoever does so will be transported into this cave. I'll give you around... 2 hours to discuss with your loved ones. If I do not hear back from you or your friends by midnight, I will assume that's a no, and I will do as I threatened."

Buzz!

Clary woke up to the sound of her phone ringing - no, vibrating on her bedside table. She reluctantly turned around to pick up her phone and read the text. 10 texts actually, all bearing the same message. They were from Jace:

Clary. Come to the Institute. NOW.

Normally she'd refuse - she'd already went to bed - but this was Jace, and there was an implication in the texts that this was urgent. She threw on some clothes to make herself look presentable, took her stele (a spare one she got from the Institute) and drew a Soundless rune on the soles of her shoes. Then she snuck out of the house, praying that when she got back home, Jocelyn wouldn't be sitting on a couch in the dark waiting for her arrival.

After 15 minutes, she arrived at the Institute. "In the name of the Clave, I ask entry to this holy -"

The doors flew open and Clary raced to the elevator. When she finally got to her designated floor, she stopped. Jace wasn't here. Nor was Isabelle, or Maryse, or anyone for that matter. Where was she supposed to go?

The library, Clary thought.

So she tried that; as she opened the doors, she knew she barged in on a grave Conclave meeting.

Flushing a deep red, Clary hastened to apologize but before she could run out, a familiar voice called to her.

Robert Lightwood, Isabelle and Alec's father, asked, "Clary! Do you know where my wife went? When Jace interrupted us, she dismissed herself with the promise that she'd come back in 5 minutes. It's been 10 minutes since but she still hasn't returned. Also, where are Lucian and Jocelyn? They should be present for this Conclave meeting as well."

So many questions, Clary muttered to herself.

Clary responded, "I think Luke and my mother are at home." Before Robert could protest, Clary continued in a voice that was harsher than she intended, "And don't you dare nag me or rebuke them for not coming. They've been having a hard time. As for Maryse, I'm looking for her as well. I thought she'd be here." Clary paused, thinking of a proper conclusion to her explanation. She didn't want to make a fool out of herself in front of the Conclave. "Well, I'm just going to leave you people to discuss whatever matter you were discussing before my interjection. Bye." Well that was awkward.

Still blushing, Clary closed the door gingerly behind her and ran to Jace's bedroom, knocking frantically on his door.

No reply.

"Jace!" Clary yelled.

No reply.

Okay, Jace probably wasn't ignoring her; there was hardly a sign of life inside the room.

Resigned, Clary tried Isabelle's room, knocking and knocking and knocking until... the door flung open.

The first figure Clary recognized was her freakishly golden boyfriend.

"Jace!" Clary was overcome with relief and she crashed into him in a hug. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Maryse and a crying Isabelle on a bed. Maryse gave Clary a death-glare, as if to say, "Don't you dare rape my son." Embarrassed, Clary broke away from Jace.

Clary cleared her throat while she fiddled with her fingers. "So... um... what's the emergency?"

Jace took Clary by the hand and told her everything. About Sebastian abducting Alec and Simon, about using them for some kind of ritual, and about Sebastian's offer.

"We have to go!" Clary insisted after he finished and she tugged at his hand, but he wouldn't budge. "This is Simon we're talking about. And Alec! You want to save Alec just as much as I want to save Simon, right? Sebastian just wants our company again. We've gone through it before. We can endure it again."

"No!" shrieked Isabelle. "Neither of you are going to turn yourselves over to tha-that... abomination!"

Jace looked at her ruefully. "If we don't, Alec and Simon are going to wind up dead."

"If you two do join him, then what? Do you really expect Sebastian to release Alec and Simon? He's not a man to be trusted; he didn't even swear on the Angel on his terms. If he really wants to perform a ritual, I doubt he's going to relinquish his ingredients so easily. Especially the Daylighter," Maryse reasoned. "Look, you have no idea how much I want to get Alec back, but there's just no way we're handing you two over to him."

Clary huffed in exasperation. "Oh my God, fine. Why don't we discuss this with the rest of the Conclave?"

Instantly, the faces of everyone in the room were filled with horror, as if Clary just suggested a kamikaze mission that would bring down the rest of the world.

Maryse broke the silence. "We can't tell the Conclave! Their decisions are rash. Even if we were to go on a rescue mission, we must plan everything out carefully -"

"Well according to Sebastian, we don't have enough time to plan everything out! The clock's ticking; midnight is just an hour away. We're going to step on that phial no matter what; the only thing that matters is what and who we bring with us," Clary argued, tears stinging in her eyes.

"Clary," Jace intoned tiredly. Clary was almost surprised to hear him speak; he'd been so quiet for the past few minutes Clary had almost forgotten he was here.

Clary stared at him, but he said nothing more. Rolling her eyes, Clary continued her rant. "The Clave has its flaws. That's undeniable. But at least it has ranks. And we need those numbers. We don't have another choice." After a while, Clary added, "While we're at it, we might as well ask the werewolves for help too."

This apparently was a very bad idea to the Conclave.

"No way. No. No. No. Every battle we've fought has been alongside the Children of the Moon. I'm sick of their aid," one of the Conclave members objected.

"Every battle you've fought and won," Clary seethed.

"I'm tired of them too," another member voiced. "Their presence just makes us seem weak."

"This is Sebastian we're talking about!" Clary snapped. "The most wanted man alive by the Clave!"

"Don't bark at me, little girl. Deep down you and I both know that Jonathan Morgenstern isn't the real reason why you want to embark on this quest."

Clary looked to her friends for support. Her eyes caught Jace's and he interceded, "The werewolves have a seat on the Council. In a way, they are our equals. If they are willing to fight by our side - and they have already given us their consent - we shall have no prejudices. Tonight, we will end -" Jace paused and took in a deep breath. "Jonathan Morgenstern and his blasted Dark army. If you are too much of a coward to join us in our cause, by all means, stand aside. Watch the Downworlders receive the glory you would get if you partook in tonight."

Silence filled the room, and no later, mumbles of discussion began to grow louder. Clary looked at Jace in admiration. She had always begrudged him his eloquence and his way of turning nonsensical words into messages of inspiration.

Finally Robert Lightwood spoke for the rest of the Conclave, "We will fight."

"Oh my God. You can't be serious!" Jace exclaimed incredulously.

"We've been through this already. With the Clave and the werewolves on our side, we have enough people to outfight a thousand demons. And because your presence will be unnecessary, we have decided that you children are not permitted to join the battle," Maryse explained, giving away a hint of irritation in her voice. "Just stay here, alright? Stay with your sister. We'll bring Alec and the Daylighter back."

With that, Maryse went out to meet with the rest of her subordinates, closing the door behind her.

Jace glared at where she previously stood, as if her ghost still lingered on that spot. There was something so... unsettling about the way she was acting. She claimed to be protecting him, but Jace knew better than that; she was hiding something.

And Maryse doesn't keep secrets without reason.

"Jace?" Clary's voice snapped Jace out of his stupor.

"Mhm, yeah?"

"You did it."

Jace's eyebrows shot up. "Did what?"

"You were so consumed in your thoughts you didn't hear a single word I said for the last 5 minutes."

"Oh."

A minute later, Clary talked again.

"Jace?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you alright?"

Jace frowned. "What do you mean 'are you alright?'"

"I mean, I can't really read you right now. You seem angry, agitated... and vulnerable all at the same time." Clary eyed him for a moment or two. "Really, are you okay?"

"You mean aside from the fact that I want to pound Maryse's head against the wall in the hopes that it'll cause the Institute to implode; thus allowing me to join the fight? Yeah. I'm perfectly fine."

"I must admit this is quite unlike you. The Jace I knew was rebellious; he hated following orders. He wouldn't just sit here and wait till the Conclave got their job done."

"I think that's you."

"That's both of us," Clary snapped, but seemed to fail to come up with something else to say.

"Have you seen Isabelle?" Clary asked, as if in an attempt to break the silence.

"No."

Clary's face grew red with rage. "Alright, just talk to me. What the hell is going on? Why aren't you talking to me?"

Jace frowned, "I am talking to you."

"Well, you haven't been speaking in complete sentences. Not for the most part. I know you're fed up with being locked up here -"

Damn it. Why did Clary have to bring that up?

Jace lost it. "Yes, I am freaking sick of being here! I want to go out, and fight, like I was born to do! And I don't know why I'm projecting my stress on you, and I'm sorry, but -" Jace caught himself and chose his words circumspectly. "I just don't feel like talking to anyone."

For what seemed like forever, Clary glared at him in both shock and anger; it was then Jace knew he'd gone too far with the yelling.

Unexpectedly, Clary sighed and put her hands over Jace's, and gasped.

"What?" Jace asked shrilly, still recovering from his sudden outburst.

"You're hot."

Jace's lips formed a smile. "I know."

Clary slapped his wrists. "That's not what I meant. You're... boiling."

"Boiling?" Jace echoed. "What do you mean - oh, the fire. It's still there, huh?"

"I think it's affecting you more than we thought it would," Clary stated anxiously. "It's probably why you've been having these mood swings. It's fire after all; maybe it enhances your rage."

Jace smiled in spite of himself. "Well, at least now I have an excuse to hold on to every time I lose my temper."

"We need to get rid of it," Clary told him.

Jace rolled his eyes, "Oh, I did not know that. How Clary?"

"I don't know. But we have to; and we will. Are you sure Brother Zechariah has absolutely no clue -"

"None. This is a phenomenon no one has ever seen before. The Silent Brothers don't have any records of cases similar to mine."

"Well, he seems to be the most inclined to help you. I think he has a thing for you."

"Of course he does. Who can possibly resist me?" Jace replied with a smirk. "But what matters is whom I can't resist, and I can only think of 3 people. You, you, and... you."

For a while they simply stared at each other, and involuntarily, they both moved closer to each other... and closer... and closer...

Then their lips touched. It didn't take long before Clary's tongue slithered into Jace's mouth and vice versa, their tongues battling for dominance. Jace's arms wrapped around Clary's back and Clary shoved her fingers into Jace's hair, gripping it tight for support.

In between kisses, Clary moaned, "Do you really think now's a good time for this?"

"It's not like we have anything better to do."

"I was rather expecting you to race out of the Institute the moment the Conclave left."

"Maryse stationed guards at the door; it'd be an offense to the Law if I fought them. And I know you can create a Portal to get us out of here, and believe me, I do want to. I've been wanting to for the last 10 days, and I even had an outburst not so long ago about it. But there's just something about you, now that we've started doing this, that makes me want to stay and spend the moment with you. I guess in a way Alec and Simon's abduction is a reminder that at any moment you or I might die. And I don't want to die without spending every remaining minute of my life with you."

Clary let out a genuine smile; she unzipped Jace's jacket and shrugged it off him. Jace's hands were moving up and down Clary's spine, eventually reaching the hem of Clary's shirt. He remembered the last few times he tried to pull Clary's shirt over her head; he had been unsuccessful most of the time. This time, Clary didn't reject his hands, so he progressed and flung her top to the ground. Jace's eyes took her in. The shape of her body, her bra, her breasts, her skin, her everything.

"Quit staring," Clary grumbled and ripped Jace's shirt open.

"Hey! I liked that shirt! You must be pretty damn keen on stripping me off."

"Shut up. And for the record, you like everything you wear," Clary retorted and silenced him with a kiss.

Then the door flew wide open. In the center of it all stood Isabelle, her black hair a mess and her make up completely washed out by tears.

Jace half-expected her to launch into a tirade regarding Jace and Clary's... sexual relations, but no. Isabelle just stood there in shock and fright, as if she recently saw the corpses of everyone in her family.

She scowled. "Dress up, lovebirds. We're going against mom's rules."

"We can't. Magnus is gone."

"What do you mean 'Magnus is gone?'" Clary demanded irately.

"As in, his house has disappeared and he's nowhere to be found."

"He wouldn't," Clary said with a note of hurt in her voice. "He wouldn't just leave Alec alone to fend for himself."

"On the contrary, he's never been more motivated," Isabelle replied glumly. "We can't ask Magnus for help."

"Why don't you try using your rune powers?" Jace offered. "Like a special tracking rune that tracks... a place where an ordinary tracking rune can't track?"

Clary made a disdainful face at him. "It doesn't work like that. The rune needs to come to me, not I to it. Besides, if Sebastian can't be tracked, then I don't think any rune can get around that. What we need is something beyond runic magic."

"Yeah, warlock magic," Isabelle drawled scornfully. "Magnus isn't here. How many times do I have to tell you that before you can get it into your head?"

"Isabelle," Jace growled in warning.

"What? Simon and Alec are freaking dying. Are you really going to snap at me for snapping at your girlfriend?"

As Jace and Isabelle continued to argue, an image flashed inside Clary's head. A rune, Clary thought. Keep it coming... keep it coming...

It looked like a burning torch, only more trigonometrical, but Clary had completely no clue what it meant. It was like the Alliance rune - when Ithuriel showed it to Clary, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever until she needed it in the most dire of times. Clary frowned in spite of herself; she didn't have forever to wait for desperation to kick in. Without reluctance, Clary got up from her seat as if in a trance, found a sheet of paper and a pencil, and began to draw out the picture.

"Clary?" Jace's muffled voice sounded. Clary felt his hand touch her arm, but all her focus was on the rune. She hardly even needed to move the pencil; it was as if the pencil had its own mind and was obeying her thoughts.

"Earth to Clary," Jace said, his voice much more perceptible now. "Are you alright?"

Isabelle came over to see the spectacle. "What's that?" she asked rather harshly. "Clary, now's not a time to be drawing clouds and torches."

When Clary was finished, for a minute or two, the three of them just stared blankly at the paper. Like Clary thought, it was very similar to the shape of a torch, but there was also another subtle shape formed by the angular flames. A shape that reminded her somehow of Magnus...

"A pentagram," she breathed out. "It's - it's a summoning rune."

Another thing happened after she said that. The rune on the paper started to blaze up in blue flames - Magnus' fire - and the meticulously crafted lines of the shape began to... shift... as if the pencil marks were movable sticks. The fire moved along with the lines, until a face Clary knew very well was produced.

Still paralyzed in trepidation and admiration, Jace, Isabelle, and Clary were all speechless. For once Magnus' fiery projection was devoid of glitter.

"Magnus," Jace greeted. "Where are you?"

"A place wherein you shouldn't have been able to find me," Magnus' voice boomed rather unhappily. "But you did. How?"

"I drew a rune," Clary replied.

"Ah, yes. Runes can be rather powerful when they are drawn by you. This one so powerful you didn't even need a stele for it to take effect. Though I must admit I'm not very pleased to see any of you."

"Alec's in danger," Isabelle blurted out, by which Clary was relieved, because at her words Magnus' glum expression changed instantaneously. Clary felt a bit of hope rising up her chest then -

Magnus frowned. "That has nothing to do with me."

Isabelle's face contorted with rage. "This is my brother we're talking about. Your boyfriend. At least have the decency to spare us a bit of your magic to track him!"

"He's not my boyfriend anymore. And I don't know if he passed the message along, but when I broke up with him, I told him that I didn't want to help you Nephilim anymore. So please Clary dear, free me of your rune's influence."

Clary stepped forward in recalcitrance. "No," she stated firmly. "Not until you help us. Please, just this once."

Magnus scoffed, "'Just this once' isn't exactly reassuring when it comes out of the mouth of the Nephilim. Especially when you're in the middle of a war - one I'm trying to stay out of."

"You cowardly bastard!" Isabelle shrieked. "Are you really going to let one mistake my brother made to cause his death?"

"Not just any mistake," Magnus said quietly. "He tried to take away my immortality."

"No he didn't!" Isabelle roared with just as much ire as before. "He considered it, but he didn't. Now his fate is at the mercy of Sebastian, and you're really not going to save him because he lost your trust? Trust. You can rebuild that; not easily, but with enough effort, it's doable. He didn't lose your love!" Isabelle stopped, then added softly, "Did he?"

Magnus' image seemed to glare at her, but after a while, he answered, "No." He sighed. "Fine, I will help you save him. But I will not physically enter the fray, nor will I lend you my power to wield. What do you want me to do?"

Clary was beyond relieved to hear that. At least all that shouting Isabelle did paid off.

Clary cleared her throat, "We want you to track Sebastian. Or Alec. Or Simon. Or... Maryse even."

Magnus raised his eyebrows, "Oh? That's it? Clary, as the Queen of Runes, you should know that there is such a rune that works just as well as an ordinary tracking spell casted by a warlock."

"We tried that. We dug into Alec's room for something to use, and that wasn't hard, but our tracking was blocked. You may say he was on a boat, but Isabelle claims they're being held captive in a cavern. A very very dry cavern."

"So Isabelle's been there?"

"She was captured along with Alec and Simon, but Sebastian sent her back as a messenger. Not without flogging her for good measure of course," Jace explained. Again, Clary was startled by his voice for she had forgotten his presence.

"Well, ask her why didn't she take note of her surroundings once they brought her out of the underground cell."

Clary countered, "They used a mechanism similar to a Portal to send her out, but it wasn't exactly a Portal. We tried opening a Portal using Isabelle's memory, but it didn't work. We tried many things, Magnus, but they all didn't work. There's strong magic blocking external influence on the cave."

Magnus's eyebrows furrowed. "Well, exactly what can I do then?"

Jace rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's obvious, isn't it? We want you to break the spell."

Please review!

So that's chapter 2. Sorry if it's (again) rushed, since there's already a big battle (or a mention of) in chapter 2. I just thought it'd be acceptable since the final battle's gonna be a BIG commotion.

The next chapter will include the battle itself (I was going to include it in this chapter but I ran out of space. I'm a perfectionist and I don't like it when my previous chapter was 5000 words and this one 10000 words. So I kept at 5000 to maintain a balance.)

Oh, and I know Isabelle's been acting weird (one minute she'd a crybaby, the next she's shouting), but that'll also be covered in the next chapter :)

Alright, I'm going to stop there. Once again, please review! It means a lot to me (and thanks to those who did).

~SoMuchForSobriety