"Those souls are great, who, dying, gave A gift of greater life to man; Death stands abashed before the brave; They own a life death cannot ban." – Anonymous
Chapter 21
The stars were fading in the night sky, dawn was not far off, and the sun would soon illuminate the battle field and the bodies that lay fallen.
"I have to make a Portal now, or the vampires won't be able to get back to the Hotel Dumort before sunrise," Magnus said seriously.
"Do you have enough energy?" Jia asked in concern. "You have done a lot of magic tonight."
"If Ragnor and Catarina will help me, we should be able to manage it," Magnus said tiredly. "But you Nephilim will need to make your own way back to your Glass City."
"Very well," Jia said. "Do you need to return to New York now, or will you stay to deal with the aftermath with us?"
"I'll stay, I'd like to see this one through," Magnus said slowly. "Now, I need to find Catarina and Ragnor and get things moving."
"Thank you," Jia said, turning and walking a few yards to where Luke was standing with Robert and Maryse.
"Well?" Robert asked Jia expectantly.
"Magnus will take care of sending the vampires back to New York now, but we will need to make our way back to Alicante on foot," Jia told Robert.
"We should start sending people back as quickly as possible, and finish surveying the scene here," Robert decided. "Lucian, are you able to take the first wave of people back, or do you need to stay with your wife?"
"I think I should stay with Jocelyn," Luke decided quickly. "She's going to be here for a little while. How about having Jonathan and Jace assemble a group to return to Alicante? Clary should be taken back, and Jace and Jonathan are rather restless from having very little involvement in the battle."
"That's a good idea," Robert said. "I will send Alec and Isabelle with them as well, that will do nicely. We should only need to break up into three or four groups anyway, leaving at fifteen minute intervals."
"Very good," Jia agreed. "We should have the most able bodied leave first, they will be faster, and more capable of returning to assist those who cannot walk back."
"Yes, I will instruct Alec on what arrangements need to be made in that regard," Robert decided. "Let's find them, and then we will begin to look at the body count."
Alec was located quickly, and predictably he was with his parabatai and sister, who were of course also with Clary and Jonathan.
"I have a task for you, Alec," Robert said, interrupting whatever conversation had been going on. "All of you, actually."
"Thank the Angel," Jace burst out. "Anything. Seriously, fending off two little faeries was really not my idea of battle."
Robert glared at his adoptive son, and then explained to the group what Jia and Luke wanted them to do. Jace and Isabelle were enthusiastic, and Alec and Jonathan agreeable, and Clary was merely silent. Robert left quickly, leaving the five of them to their task.
"Jonathan, Jace and I will go around and marshal the most able bodied people here," Alec decided. "Izzy, you and Clary stay here, we'll send them to you and we can all set off together, within the next five minutes."
Isabelle agreed quickly, with Clary nodding mutely. The three boys left then left to do accordingly.
"I'm sorry," Isabelle said quietly. "I know you were close."
"I don't really want to talk about it," Clary said emotionlessly. "I'm not that bothered anyway, just tired. Death happens, we expect it, sooner rather than later, and a battle like this was always going to have fatalities."
"But we never expect it to be those closest to us," Isabelle pointed out persistently.
"Isabelle," Clary warned in a fractious tone.
"Fine," Isabelle said stiffly. "I wish I could have seen the Seelie Queen's face when she found out what you did to her forces."
"Don't, please," Clary pleaded. "I know this is what we do, but I can't quite revel in this victory. I took so many lives today Isabelle, and just to save myself."
"That's not true, Clary," Isabelle protested. "You saved Jace, and Jon, and you took a stand for the rest of us. We're here to fight for good, and if we let the evil walk all over us, then what's the point? You did what had to be done, and everyone knows that."
"We'll see," Clary said dully.
"Maybe Jace can knock some sense into you," Isabelle huffed. "Look, people are heading our way, including Aline and Helen."
Within a few minutes a group of thirty or so were assembled and they began the walk back to Alicante. Jace noticed that Clary was quiet and rather listless, but he chalked it up to exhaustion and grief. They would have time later to talk things through.
"That rune you drew," Jace began as they walked. "How did you come up with it?"
"It was something from my sketchbook, from ages ago," Clary answered. "I was really mad one day, after a fight I'd had with Jon, and that's was I was sketching, envisioning something that would cause total destruction."
"Destruction is about right," Jace told her with a grin. "That was something else, you know."
"Mmm," Clary murmured, not wanting to go down that road. "I just want this all to be over."
"Well, it won't be all over for a little while at least," Jace pointed out. "The Council will have to meet to decide what to do with the faeries now that they have surrendered. All the dead will need to be buried and your crater in Brocelind Plain will need to be seen to."
"I just want to sleep in my own bed," Clary persisted stubbornly.
"There's no reason why they shouldn't let everyone leave the city tonight, if they're ready and want to," Jace told her comfortingly. "The Penhallows will be glad to get us out of their hair."
Clary brightened momentarily at this thought.
"It will be weird to have things go back to normal. I feel like this has been our world for so long that going back to the Academy and all the other things we do will seem so out of place," Clary mused.
"I can't wait for things to return to normal, I can't believe I ever complained of boredom before," Isabelle interjected, overhearing and joining their conversation. "I like going to parties, and throwing parties, and killing demons. This Downworlder politics is not my style."
"You don't mind having flings with Downworlders," Jace taunted readily.
Clary rolled her eyes, and gave a sigh of relief, spotting the gates of Alicante in the distance. She tuned out the banter that Isabelle and Jace were now having, Alec being drawn into it. She ignored the voices in the background as people debriefed and deconstructed the battle. They made it sound so clinical, they were so removed, it wasn't personal to them. It wasn't, though Clary overlooked the fact that a lot of them had seen battle before, and it was just a way of life, whereas it wasn't get for Clary, she wasn't hardened to it. Killing demons was one thing, killing living beings, Downworlders though they were, was another.
Older generations of Shadowhunters had not always been on such good terms with Downworlders, in fact, prior to the Accords, a lot of them were in favour of eradicating them. Some of that sentiment still existed, even in Shadowhunters only a generation older than Clary and her friends. But for Clary, she had never been taught to hate Downworlders, so for her, more so than some others, fighting them, and killing them, affected her even more. She'd never had a bad experience with a Downworlder until the last week, and now she had more than she could count on her hands. At least she had gained a friend in Simon from the experience, but that was the only good she could see. There had been battle, good people, Nephilim, had died, and her Aunt Madeleine was gone forever.
A lump formed in Clary's throat and she swallowed it stubbornly. If she gave into her emotions she would not be able to function, and she needed to be able to function. There was a long day ahead of her, one she knew would be filled with hard work and many questions. There would be time for grief, but until that time came she just couldn't devote any time or energy to mourning her aunt.
Before long they reached Alicante, their forces making their way through the gates in an orderly fashion. There was no jubilee, and little commotion, they were returning from battle, and battle was a way of life. It was their work, there would be celebration, but they all knew the time had not come for that.
Jace looked closely at Clary then said to Alec, "Alec, Clary and I will go the Accords Hall and release the children, and Simon and the werewolf girl. Will you three take care of the rest?"
There was little Alec did not know about Jace, and his ears quickly perceived the concern in Jace's tone that he was trying to conceal. "Thanks, that would be good. I'll have some adults join you as soon as possible. Just stay there with the kids and reassure them that everything is going to be okay now. Don't break any bad news to any of them yet, okay?"
Jace nodded curtly, took Clary's hand and they silently headed towards the Accords Hall, leaving Alec to follow through on sending support back to those left out on Brocelind Plain.
"I can tell you don't want to talk now, and I get that, but we will talk later. I know what happens when you push down your feelings and ignore them and nothing good comes from it," Jace told Clary in a firm but gentle voice.
Clary just nodded and said, "I hope Val wasn't too upset without us. She's never been away from Mom for long."
They unlocked the hall and Clary quickly spotted her little sister, curled up on a pallet, asleep next to Max Lightwood. She was very fond of the youngest Lightwood. Clary made a beeline for Val and settled down next to her to watch her sleep, taking comfort in the serene expression on her face as she slept.
Jace let her go, and moved over to where Maia and Simon were, both who had been dozing, but had become alert upon Jace and Clary entering the hall.
"It's over, the faeries are retreating and we're in the process of regrouping and picking up the pieces," Jace told them quietly. "Our losses haven't been too great, but Clary is exhausted, and her Aunt Madeleine was killed, so she's not exactly herself."
"Well that sucks," Maia said forthrightly.
"Yeah," Jace said shortly. "Just don't talk to her about it unless she broaches it with you, okay?"
Simon looked like he wanted to argue, but quickly decided against it. He didn't like being told what to do by Jace, but he didn't want to upset Clary.
"What's next?" Simon asked.
"Jace, Izzy and Jon are back with our most able bodied and they'll be taking care of getting everyone else back from Brocelind. Magnus Bane couldn't make a Portal for us to return by, so we have to use our own resources to return, and to take care of the wounded and dead. That will take most of the day," Jace explained. "You two will need to stay here, the kids will start to wake soon, the sun is just rising, so it's probably best for you to keep an eye on them, and Clary too. She'll probably want to distract herself with Valentina for the time being."
"What are you going to do?" Maia asked.
"There's nothing I can do for Clary now, but I can be useful out there, so I'm going to do what I can," Jace told them. "I'm just going to check on her, and then I'll leave."
"We'll make sure she's okay," Simon promised sincerely.
Jace paused, gave Simon a long look and said, without looking too pained, "Thanks."
Simon swallowed a chuckle. Jace was a real ass, but when it came to Clary, apparently there was nothing he wouldn't do for her, including being nice, or at least civil, to 'the mundane'.
AN: Sorry it's been so long since my last update, and this chapter is a little short, but it essentially tidies up this battle storyline. From here there will be a little time jump, and we'll move to the aftermath, including funerals and returning home. There will still be post battle details, but they'll just be quickly covered in dialogue. From there, who knows, but I definitely want to explore Simon/Izzy more, and Magnus/Alec, and Jace as his own person, as well as Clary/Jace. So, there is more to come, and definitely some more lighthearted stuff :)
Thanks for reading, I really appreciate everyone who's still reading and interested :) Please review!