ooh another longer chapter! Reviews mean the world to me guys. I'm trying to reply to reviews now, no that I've gotten that all figured out. Also, do you like the chapter?
I don't know how often I'll be posting, with the new school year and blah blah.
I hope you enjoy
(;
Clary inhaled sharply, surveying the scene in front of her. Ian was crouched on the ground, a sword laying at his feet. He was desperately searching for it, his hands feeling for the blade. He was cut pretty badly, shards of glass littered the ground around him. She called out to him, and he looked up, his brow creasing. She wished so badly he could see her. She wondered if he knew it was even her speaking.
"Ian!" She cried again, moving forward to reach him. She took a step forward, drawing a weapon from her belt, in case any unwanted visitors came along.
"Clary no!" He yelled, then she fell forward, her blade skittering across the floor. Someone had hit her in the back, smashed a vase it felt like. She bit back her cry of pain, trying to crawl forward and retrieve her weapon. The person behind her smashed her foot underneath his boot, and the pain was too much to bear. She screamed bloody murder, trying deperatly to crawl away form this evil person. She heard Ian shouting to duck, and she flattened herself on the floor. The man fell to the ground with a thud behind her.
"Did it work?" Ian asked, getting to his feet. He stared blindly ahead, stumbling through the broken glass. She noticed a broken window at the back of the room. Clary turned her head around, and saw the man was now a crumpled heap, lying not moving on the ground. Ian still staggering towards her, and she saw with some surprise he was hurt much worse than he was letting on. There was a spreading red stain on his white button up, and his jeans were torn, and bloody. There was a jagged wound on his collarbone, and he was limping.
"What happened Ian? And how did you just do that?" She asked.
"These people attacked me and Oliver, and threw Oliver out the window, leaving me. I think they knew I was blind and eventually I would die." here was so much bitterness in his tone, Clary flinched.
"How did you know the guy was behind me?" She asked.
"Oh, I heard him." Ian answered, shrugging.
'"Wow." Was all she could say.
"And I threw the blade where I heard louder footsteps, and the man's gruff voice." He answered, now an inch from Clary. Ian still amazed her.
Her back was burning, Her foot felt like fire, and she couldn't move it. She hoisted herself up on her elbows, and looked at Ian. How were they going to get out of there? Ian was blind, and in very bad shape, Clary faring not much better. She couldn't walk very well with her injuries. She gulped, trying to get to her feet. She got to her knees, and Ian caught her before she fell over. His arms were warm and reassuring, and she felt safe. They stayed there for a few seconds, before Ian blushed, turning his head away. Ian stood up, offering his hand. She took it, and held it. She took a step forward, more a hop really. If they survived this, she was going to have to hit the store and get some bandages. She led him down the steps, leaning into him for support. She tripped, falling into him slightly. He caught her, holding her in place. The skin where she touched him was hot, and came away sticky with blood. She gulped, leading him down another series of stairs. She couldn't let anything happen to Ian, after losing him already.
The ground floor was empty, and looked like it had only sustained slightly less damage through this whole ordeal. Smoke rose from piles of debris, and orange flames would flicker every so often. The room was trashed, the tables turned over, shattered glass littering the floor. She gripped Ian's arm tighter, tears rolling down her cheeks. She had been going strictly on adrenaline, that being the only thing keeping her from crying. Now the tears came.
Images flashed through her head, each one like another stab to the chest. Simon, smiling and laughing as he opened a coke can. She saw Magnus, smiling a goofy grin, as they entered the grocery store. She saw Daniel and Ragnor smiling, looking happy. She saw the lightwoods, Isabelle, Alec and Jace. Alec sitting there, letting her tear him to pieces, Isabelle laying on her bed staring at the ceiling, the sound of Jace's rich laughter, the precise gold of his hair and eyes. She saw Jace sitting on the bench next to her, smiling down at her, the sun behind him making him look like an angel in heaven. She saw Cole, in the darkness of a building, whispering something in her ear, and kissing her. She remembered kissing him back, for what seemed like hours. Now, she had little hope any of them were still alive. She would probably never see Jace's lips curve into a smile, Magnus's eye's light up. Ian was shaking beside her, which she didn't think was a good thing. She walked faster, moving them both towards the exit. Thankfully though, they ran into no black suited figures.
Magnus coughed again, looking up for the first time at the blaze, the place he had called home for months disappear in a whirl of orange and grey. He knew it was a slim chance any of his friends had made t out alive, but he wasn't going to stop looking for them until he knew they were dead. He wasn't going back into the flaming building though. He turned to run down the side of the building, when something caught his eye. He saw two figures huddled in the bushes, looking up at the flames with amazement and horror. He recognized Simon immediately. He ran towards them, pulling Simon into a fierce hug.
He was alive. He was alive.
Simon pulled away, realization dawning on his face.
"Magnus! Thank god!" Simon said, his voice cracking. The other boy looked as if he might cry. Isabelle's expression however, remained hard, seemingly expressionless. He saw her law tighten though, when she looked at Magnus. She must have been grieving the loss of her brothers.
Her brothers.
He remembered sitting next to Alec in the infirmary, going up against him in training. Magnus had watched as Clary had almost killed him, and he had almost let her. He had probably died in this fire, like so many of the others.
"Have you seen anyone else?" Simon asked, his voice quiet and doubtful. Magnus shook his head, not able to speak. If he tried, he was surely going to start sobbing. Another part of the building crashed, ashes falling like snow on a cold night. He heard footsteps, and another pair came into view. His heart jumped, seeing a pair of familiar blazing green eyes, and vibrant red hair. Only her hair was matted with dirt, ash and blood, and her eyes were glistening with tears. She was leaning on a taller boy, who stumbled behind her like he didn't know where he was going. Ian, he realized belatedly. Ian looked worse than Clary did, his jeans and shirt torn and stained red.
Still, it was a huge relief just to see the two alive.
"How did you guys escape?" Simon asked, looking at Clary with unreadable eyes.
"Long story." Ian answered, his voice rough.
"Well, we jumped through a window." Simon stated, pulling out a blade.
"I'll keep watch. I'm not as badly injured as all of you." He said. His chocolate eyes looks impossibly dark in the moonlight. Magnus saw a long wound going down the length of his cheek, but noticed little other damage. He sat down carefully on the grass, wincing as his sore body moved.
So it was the five of them.
Cole didn't know what to do now that they were outside the building. Did he move away? He was supporting Alec with one hand under his neck, the other under his legs. His clothes were soaked with blood, and torn. He knew Alec would definitely object to being carried, but what other choice did he have? He brought Alec a little further into the woods, then laying him down on the ground. If it weren't for the rise and fall of his chest, Cole would have assumed Alec was dead. He just couldn't let this boy die, he knew. This was his new purpose, at least for now. He hugged his knees, thinking about Ian. Was there a chance he had escaped? Cole knees he shouldn't be building the hope Ian was alive, when the odds were so against it.
He looked down at the unconscious boy, more tears falling down his cheeks. This was his fault, everything. It as his fault Ian and Clary and Magnus were all most likely dead, and this boy he barely even knew was so badly wounded. He should have seen the kicks coming, he thought, more tears falling from his eyes. What was he supposed to do now? He was so lost.
He at least knew this much: they needed medicine. He didn't know now long it would be before Alec came to, but he wasn't about to leave his side, even if it meant death. He owed this boy, he owed it to the lives lost.
Why hadn't he discarded the necklace? He should have seen it coming.
And now here he was, with a bleeding boy, maybe a half mile away from the ruins of the resistance.
Magnus woke early in the morning, the smell of smoke still strong in the air. He got up from the ground, stretching his legs. He was restless, it had taken him until long after the others had fallen asleep, to finally drift off. He decided to go for a short walk, to stretch his legs. Simon still sat wide awake leaning against the tree trunk. He had told Simon he needed to go for a walk. Simon had replied by warning him not to go to far.
Like he would.
He started moving east, a little farther form the ruins of the building. The fallen leaves crunch under his feet, and he heard rustling, like and animal or person. He stopped dead, remaining still. More rustling. Something flew from the bushes, soaring high above Magnus and landing with grace beside him. He recognized the figure as Cole.
Cole looked very bad, covered in blood. His eyes were shadowed, his cheekbones hollow. His clothing was torn, and his hair was ruffled, dried blood in spots.
"Cole?" He asked, not hiding the astonishment from his voice. He had to admit, this was not the person he would prefer to be seeing right at this moment. Cole's lips parted slightly and he froze, as if realizing something. He ran around the brush, shouting for Magnus. Magnus hesitated for only a moment, before following him into the brush. He didn't see anything at first, just Cole, some grass and some trees.
Then Cole lifted something in his arms. A person, he realized.
"Who- He started but Cole interrupted.
"Alec." He answered.
NO. this was not Alec, couldn't be Alec. This boy was covered in blood, his clothed ripped to shreds. Blood still seeped from the wound in his forehead, tinting his hair an awful red color. He knew it was Alec though. He had the same sticking dark hair, the same face shape, high collarbones.
"How did this happen?" Magnus asked his voice a whisper.
"Well, we got attacked in the training room, headed to the kitchen, and Alec got stabbed by a flying knife. The kitchen basically exploded, and I think Alec got cut up pretty badly by that as well. Then we encountered some men in the hallway, who cut Alec up, and sent him flying down the stairs. He also his arm, it might be broken." Cole said quickly, and Magnus thought Cole sounded anxious.
Oh Alec.