Okay, in response to tessagreyherondale, more this chapter on why Stephen Herondale is like he is, but not everything yet! Got to keep some mystery. Maybe some more on Jocelyn as well, still deciding what happened to her… Or maybe I've decided.

Thank you for reading! Hopefully you will enjoy! Please review!

Lu xxx

Jace walked in through the door smiling. Alec and his mom Maryse had just walked him up to the door, and he was looking forward to telling his step mom how much fun he had just had at the water park with his best friend – his father wouldn't be home yet. Whilst Stephen usually just grunted and pretended that he cared, Céline actually listened, and talked to him about it. Jace's smile widened. He loved Céline. She was always there for him, even when she was having one of her 'bad days'. Jace had always found his step moms 'bad days' peculiar, because she was sad for no reason and he wasn't allowed to tell his father. Ever. It was his little secret with Céline – because… Jace struggled to remember, but he was pretty sure he wasn't allowed to tell his father because he would blame himself.

Jace stumbled along the hallway as he dropped his bag on the floor. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Alec just turning away from the door. Bag safely discarded, Jace ran the last few steps into the study, where Céline always was at this time in the afternoon. Swinging around the door frame, he was just about to shout that he was home when he saw her. She was lying in a pool of dark red liquid, angry slashes across her wrists. She was very pale, no flush in her cheeks. Jace didn't even need to check her pulse. She was dead. Jace screamed.

"Jace? Jace?!" The boy could hear footsteps in the corridor outside as Maryse and Alec responded to his cries, but he was frozen to the spot. He couldn't move. All he could see was the open, glassy eyes of the woman whom he trusted most in the world. He let Alec drag him away from her body as Maryse started dialling something into her phone. He could barely hear her panicked tones as he slumped against the wall, too shocked even to cry. He heard Alec say something, but he couldn't make out what it was. He felt the other boy's arm go around his shoulders, and leant onto him.

Jace tried to push the memory from his head, like he tried to push the blackness, but it wouldn't go. He silently screamed, shouting for someone to help him, but unlike that day, nobody came.

Alec let Magnus pull him away from school in a bit of a haze. He wasn't really sure what he was doing, but what he did know was that all he wanted was to get away from school – no, who was he kidding. He just wanted to get away from Jace. At the thought of his once best friend he did a double take, back to his senses. He stopped abruptly next to Magnus, stiffening up. He hadn't really been looking where he was going and now he looked around, he saw that they were about five minutes away from school. He began to panic about not going to school, about what it could do – in fact he just began to panic about everything. He felt his chest constrict, his breathing becoming more labored. He felt Magnus clutch onto his shoulder as his vision became blurred, but he couldn't hold onto Magnus back - it was like he was losing control of every muscle in his body. He began to shake uncontrollably, as if he had been plunged into a bucket of ice water. He felt his knees begin to give, and whimpered.

"Alec? Are you okay? What's happening?" But Alec could barely breathe, there was no way he was going to be able to speak. Instead, using every ounce of control that he could muster he shook his head. Magnus sighed at himself. "Okay, silly question! What do I do Alec, how can I help?! What is going on?!" Alec raised his head to meet Magnus's gaze. There was a spark of panic in his eyes, and he looked confused, gazing questioningly at Alec, as if asking him again what to do but with his gaze. The boy look at a total loss, as if he really cared about Alec much more than he should of for someone who had only known him for a day if that. Maybe Magnus was like that with everyone. Alec summed up all his strength to utter out his next few words as he began to double over, clutching at his chest.

"I…just need…to…to sit down." Alec managed to rasp. Magnus nodded frantically, grabbing Alec's arm and holding it forcefully, mainly to keep Alec on his feet. The tall boy gently helped him stagger forward a couple of feet to a nearby bench and lowered him slowly onto it, bending over in front of him and grabbing his clammy hands in between his own. Alec found the heat surging through Magnus's fingertips vaguely comforting as he struggled to control his breathing. He was failing miserably, and this had to be the worst attack he had ever had.

"What's going on Alexander?" Magnus knelt down in front of Alec fully now as his chest wrapped in on itself harder. He refused to let go of the blue-eyed boy's hands, and Alec could almost swear that there was a spark of electricity flowing through him from Magnus, helping him to remain attached to the world.

The two of them stayed like that for a while until it passed and Alec felt his senses return to him. He opened his eyes as the muscles in his chest released their death grip – at some point he had squeezed them shut – and found two golden green orbs staring straight into them. Alec thought they were fascinating, a colour that he hadn't even known possible for humans to see. The colour shifted in them, flickering and glowing, just as his change with his mood. In them Alec thought that he could see right into Magnus. Even if he doubted that they were real and not contacts. He was curious, so he asked. Magnus laughed weakly.

"So you've just had what I presume is a panic attack and you want to know if I'm wearing contacts?" Alec nodded. He just wanted to get off the subject. He hated it when this happened, and he just wanted to pretend it hadn't happened, as this was the fastest way to get rid of the awful feeling that lingered all through his body, scratching into his bones. It was as if Magnus could tell what he was thinking, because he just nodded.

"Okay. And they're real. I don't know where I get them from though. None of my relatives have… I mean had them." Alec saw the hurt in his eyes, but didn't press the matter. He knew that Magnus wanted to keep of the subject in the same way that Alec wanted to keep off what had just happened. It was obviously something that hurt him deeply, and stayed with him lingering in the back of his mind all of the time. Alec knew the feeling. He had experienced it all too often.

"Lets just get out of here, do something fun." Magnus suggested, as a gloom threatened to descend over them both. Alec was relieved that Magnus just wanted to get on with stuff now. Whenever Alec had had a panic attack when he was around… around him, there had always been a massive fuss afterwards that just made Alec feel weak and stupid and basically a whole lot worse. That had been the last time it had gotten bad. Now it was getting bad again Alec was sure he had found someone who would really help him get through it. He smiled.

"Okay, why not?" Magnus's grin widened at this, showing slightly pointed teeth that reminded Alec of a cat. "Know anywhere good for a couple of skivers to hang out? I don't know the area yet." Alec flinched a little at the mention of skiving, again worrying about school. But that washed over him soon enough. He quickly racked his brains for any ideas.

"Well… there are a couple of good cafés…" Magnus held up a hand, silencing Alec. Several rings glittered on his elegant fingers.

"No, I'm sorry, not good enough. We are going to find something properly interesting, probably get a bit drunk, and make the most of a free day." Alec nodded hesitantly, thinking.

"Alright, but I need to be suitable to drive. I have to give Izzy a lift home after she has finished school." Magnus patted Alec on the shoulder in a way that just felt ominous in Alec' s opinion.

"I am sure we can do that. I only said probably, anyway."

"I have a feeling that there was no probably at all. You strike me as someone who likes to party. A lot." Alec looked at Magnus, feeling that he had inferred this pretty damn well.

"Damn, the man knows me already!" Magnus laughed.

"Magnus, I reckon anyone could get that. Just look at yourself." Magnus did just that.

"For your information, my dear, today I am rather understated. I normally apply a lot more glitter and at least three rainbows before leave the house." Alec raised his eyebrows, wondering why he had dressed down today. He was on the verge of asking, but then thinking better of it simply shrugged.

"Your choice I guess." Magnus really grinned at that - he loomed like the Cheshire cat.

"I'm glad you don't mind too much. My parents hated it." Magnus went a bit quiet at that. He even looked – uncomfortable. Alec hadn't thought that that was an emotion that could be associated with Magnus. He really wasn't sure if he liked it or not. It just didn't match Magnus. Or maybe it was just that Alec didn't want it to match Magnus. Either way, he just wanted Magnus to snap out of it. By a stroke of luck, he did.

"I don't like where this is going. Shall we just go?" Alec nodded in response. The boys stood up and began to wander off down the road, scanning the street for any possible entertainment. All the while Alec could feel the tension growing between the pair, until Alec felt like something was going to shatter. Naturally it was Magnus who shattered it.

"Right. That is it. This day is supposed to be fun. So we are going to have fun. No more moping about or feeling awkward." He looked around before dragging Alec off into a bar he had spotted. As they went in, Alec glanced up at the name of the place, even though he was pretty sure of it already. His concerns were confirmed immediately. The Hunter's Moon. This bar had a bad reputation. Crap. He tried to stop Magnus but the boy had already marched straight in. He grabbed Alec and yanked him in after him. Alec groaned inwardly and had no choice but to go into the very worst spot for him and Magnus to be.

The place was obviously a hole in the wall, full of biker types in ripped denim, with skin heads and earrings to match. As the two of them walked in and made their way towards the bar, Alec could feel the stares eating into them, stabbing at him from all angles. He gulped, and leant in towards Magnus's ear.

"We should get out of here Magnus, I mean it, they really hate people like us in here. Especially people who look like you. I've heard stuff about it. We are going to get crushed." Alec whispered, desperate to not be overheard.

"So they don't like this fabulousness?" Alec winced as Magnus blurted this out loudly and gestured to himself.

"No they really don't. At all. Please keep the noise down and try not to draw attention to yourself." Magnus gave Alec a dirty look. "Just trust me on this one. Please." They had reached the bar, and as the pair sat down Magnus turned to give Alec a look, but the stopped as he saw the serious, concerned expression on the other boys face.

"Okay." He nodded at Alec, then turned to face the bartender, an old man with a face coated in dirty white bristles, a baseball cap and a fag sticking from his mouth. He looked like the sort of person you didn't mess with. He growled somewhat at Magnus, but he didn't seem fazed. "Give us a couple of shots of vodka."

Clary stared down at Jace, his limp hand grasped in hers. She had been sat like this for longer than she cared to admit, determined to be there when he finally opened his eyes. She barely knew the guy, but on two occasions she had seen him - the previous night and then of course just before he had blacked out - he had seemed so broken, and this had drawn her in. She was determined to fix this boy, even if giving everything that was required to do so destroyed her. From her experience with him, he was the sort of person that deserved to be put back together.

Clary had been on her phone quite a lot that morning as well. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, whilst she was waiting for Jace to be patched up so that she could see him, she had received a call from a tearful Maia who had told her in such a heartbroken manner that Clary had felt her chest constricting that there was no way she was going to make it in to school that day. Clary had spent a long time doing her best to console by erratically placed calls all morning, all the while never leaving the bedside of the golden haired boy who still lay peacefully, his face slack and his body covered in bandages.

She looked down at him again now. Her eyes ran down his body to his ankle, encased in bandages and sticking out from the sheets of the pale blue hospital bed. It was too swollen for a cast, and the doctors reckoned it had sustained serious damage, whether from the original injury or the fact that he had been walking around on it. The thought of the injury almost made Clary cry - how in the name of the Angel had he managed to do this? What had happened? She felt her phone buzz in her pocket and drew it out to answer it, leaving her oblivious to the way Jace' s eyes were moving frantically under their lids as he lay trapped in the awful blackness.

Simon sighed and glanced around the canteen, looking for his fiery headed little sister. Isabelle sat opposite him, picking rather unenthusiastically at the salad she had picked up for lunch. As if noticing how fidgety he was, she grabbed his twitching hands in her steady ones and glared right into his deep brown eyes.

"Quit it."

"Quit what?" Simon replied, although he already knew what the answer would be. Isabelle scowled.

"Worrying about Clary. If you are really that concerned about where she is then call her. If you aren't, then just do what in an doing about Alec right now and ignore it, assuming that he is fine and that I really don't want to know what he is up to and simply getting on with it." Simon ran a hand through his curly hair and stared at Izzy. He couldn't tell whether she was angry, or whether she understood him, or what. She was very confusing.

He knew that he wanted to ring Clary, ask her where she was and whether she was okay or not - since his mom's death he had been terrified for her - but he wasn't sure what Izzy would think, whether she would be okay with it or be angry with him. He decided to ask.

"Would you mind if I rang her? It's just I'm so worried..."

"Simon. Stop. It is fine. I have siblings and I totally get it. Especially after what you have both been through with your mom... go ahead." Simon thanked her and she just nodded at him. He pulled his phone out of his bag and tapped a few buttons until it began to dial his sister's number. He waited anxiously, biting his lip as he heard he phone start to ring. She picked up on the fourth ring, and Simon almost swore in relief as he heard her voice echo out from the other end of the line.

"Heya Simon, what's up?" Clary said. He could tell that something wasn't good despite the fact that he tone was bright. Too bright, he thought to himself. Time to cut to the chase.

"Clary where the Hell are you? It's already lunch and I haven't seen you all morning? Where have been? What have you been doing?" He broke off and heard Clary take a deep breath. This was becoming more and more ominous with every passing moment.

"Okay...Simon, don't freak but... I'm at the hospital."

"WHAT!" Izzy heard Simon yell. She stared at him, concerned. Panic was written all over his face, his hand beginning to tremble as he struggled to keep the phone against his ear. Izzy hearde girl on the other end quickly mutter a response, and she saw him visibly relax, which calmed her in return.

"Okay, but if it isn't you who is it?" Isabelle saw his brow furrow as he tried to process what he was hearing.

"Jace?" Without hesitating Izzy snatched the phone off of him and pressed it against the side of her face.

"Clary it's Isabelle. What has happened to Jace?"

"He broke his ankle and walked on it, so he has really fucked it up and knocked himself out. He also has loads of other bruises and shot. No one has a clue how any of it happened." Isabelle swore.

"Is Alec there? Does he know?"

"No and I don't know. Call him, tell him." Izzy didn't need anything more than that to persuade her. She frantically hung up and smashed her brother's number into Simon's phone as he boyfriend just stared at her from across the plastic table. Damn, she hoped he would pick up.