When Alec woke up, he woke to more pain than he'd ever imagined, but waking to Magnus and Jace by his side made him feel as though, maybe, just maybe, things would actually be okay. Getting Jace to leave, however, wasn't as easy as Alec had expected it to be, but he could see that Jace hadn't slept at all, so he kept pushing until Jace went to rest, knowing that Jace would be much better off that way. Alec looked up in surprise when Magnus reached to take his hand and the pain that had been radiating through him disappeared. "Don't waste your energy on my pain, Magnus," he said, hearing how soft and slow his voice was.
Magnus simply smiled and kept his hand in Alec's. "Don't you dare worry about me," Magnus replied, his voice bent by worry and fatigue. "I'll keep you out of pain as long as possible. It's the last I can do for you." Alec allowed himself to relax into Magnus's touch, but even Magnus couldn't erase everything else that had happened.
"What's going on right now?" Alec asked, moving to sit up so that he could actually face Magnus. "Between the Shadowhunters and Downworld, I mean." Magnus seemed to shift nervously, obviously a bit on edge over the entire situation. Alec motioned for him to move from his chair to the bed, suddenly wanting nothing more than to be close to Magnus, suddenly overcome by the fact that he had actually helped save Magnus, that he had actually broken the mold.
"Let's just say that leaving Alicante is going to be very difficult for us," Magnus replied, sighing as he moved to sit beside of Alec. "What you did was nothing short of heroic, and most of Downworld has decided that they will not remain silent any longer. They've decided that they will stand by you until the Law is changed so that people no longer have to live in fear." Alec smiled at the thought of it, but in reality, things were spiraling out of control much faster than he might have imagined.
Getting out of Alicante was terrible, the crowds were unrelenting, and they eventually decided that once they got home, Magnus would need to stay at the Institute until things became a little safer for everyone involved. Alec didn't mind being cooped up in the Institute with Magnus, but he did mind not being able to go with the others on the missions concerning Valentine.
Everything was fine until the day Alec felt his parabatai bond begin pulling in a way it never had before. Up until then, the Valentine missions had turned up absolutely nothing at all, but now he knew there was something wrong with Jace. It wasn't a physical sort of issue, that much was evident, but there was something wrong with Jace, and he knew he needed to find out what it was. The problem was that, even if he was actually allowed out of the Institute, he had no idea where they had ended up on the mission. So the only thing he could do was wait for Jace to return, hoping that whatever was going on could be fixed.
Until the others got back from the mission, Alec tried to keep his mind busy by reading, and for the majority of the day, Magnus stayed with him. Somehow, Magnus seemed to know that even his presence would help calm Alec down. They hardly spoke to one another all day, but just knowing that Magnus was there did more for Alec than any words ever could, and somehow, Alec relaxed enough to keep himself sane until he heard Jace's footsteps in the hallway.
"Alec, please don't," Jace said as Alec followed him toward his room. At first, Alec almost listened without a second thought, but he could hear the catch in Jace's voice, he could still feel the soft tug at their bond, and he knew that this was a time that Jace didn't need to be alone, no matter what he said. Entering Jace's room, Alec was slightly surprised when he stopped on the threshold and Jace turned to say, "Get in here and close the door."
It didn't take long for Jace to explain the situation, and Alec couldn't help but refuse to believe that Jace and Clary were siblings as well. The situation didn't make any sense at all, but Alec's firm belief in the legend kept him from believing that what Valentine was saying was true in any way. "I just really don't know what to do, Alec," Jace said, catching Alec by surprise. Jace always had a plan, no matter how ridiculous or life-threatening it might be. "I have to prove him wrong, but I have no idea where to begin."
The only thing Alec knew to do at the moment was reassure Jace that they would figure things out one way or another. He left Jace with the thought that sleep might actually help clear Jace's mind, help get him back to himself. But Alec knew that he himself wouldn't be able to sleep for a while yet, so he found himself with Magnus once more, explaining everything that Jace had told him. "I actually do have a plan, well, sort of," Magnus said when Alec was done, his voice thoughtful and open. "Just go get some rest, I'll see what I can do in the morning."
Getting Magnus's friends into the Institute wasn't the problem, it was getting Jace to actually talk to them that was the real problem. Alec had no idea what the man and woman Magnus had asked to come had to do with the situation at hand, but he trusted Magnus, so he got Jace and Clary to actually come together and wait to listen to whatever these people had to say.
"This is Tessa Gray," Magnus said, motioning to the woman. "And this is James Carstairs," he continued, motioning to the man. Their looks complimented one another, where James was fair, Tessa was dark, and Alec could see from the way they stood together that they were very close to one another. Alec would have been startled by James's silver hair if Magnus had not already explained that he had been ill. Magnus had not taken the time to fully explain how James had turned from a Silent Brother back into a Shadowhunter, but Alec suspected that it had something to do with the reason they were there.
"Magnus asked to come speak with you," Tessa began, her voice soft and gentle. "Because he said that if anyone could help you understand your situation, it would be us." Alec watched as Jace leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, knowing that this was a sign that Jace's attention was captured. "We just want you to know that there is a possibility that you're not soulmates." Clary looked as though she was going to speak up when James cleared his throat.
"Just listen for a moment, please," he said, his voice tinged with a centuries old accent. "There is such a thing as platonic soulmates, if you will. And we know this because my parabatai and I shared a soulmate tattoo. This confused us greatly until we met Tessa and discovered that she, too, shared our tattoo." Alec glanced at Magnus, wondering if Magnus really believed that this could be the situation that Jace and Clary were facing as well. "It took William and I years to understand what was going on. Neither of us felt any sort of romantic attraction toward the other, but when we met Tessa, we suddenly realized that a pair of soulmates didn't have to be romantic, at least, not in our case."
Alec smiled at the way James's voice changed when he said his parabatai's name, as though he was remembering a lifetime of memories all at once. "If the two of you are truly siblings," Tessa picked back up. "Then it is still entirely possible for you to be soulmates. There could be another person involved. Or even two more." Alec was entirely intrigued by the whole situation, but before he could ask any questions, Clary surprised him by being the one to leave the room without a word. He would have almost expected it of Jace, but Jace was actually calm for once, and Alec could tell it was because he was forming a plan.
It was likely the worst plan that Jace had ever had, but, as always, Alec had agreed to go along with it, mostly so that he could protect Jace. But now that he was in the shadows, listening to Jace's conversation with Valentine, trying to keep his breathing as quiet as possible, Alec was beginning to have second thoughts. He had mostly agreed to come with Jace because they both wanted to ensure that nothing happened to Jace, but the quieter Alec tried to make his breathing, the louder it seemed to become. And he knew that if Valentine found him, they would both be dead in a matter of seconds.
"How do you feel about what your parabatai did?" Valentine was saying, his voice relaxed and casual in a way that Alec was willing to bet it always was. "It's hardly something one can keep from having a strong opinion on," Valentine continued. Alec found himself becoming nervous at the thought of what Jace might say, but he also knew that Jace had stood by him, and he knew deep down that if Jace agreed with Valentine, it would be for self-preservation.
"He is my parabatai," Jace said after several loaded moments of silence. "I will always stand by him." Alec smiled at the finality of Jace's voice. Whatever he had expected Jace to do, it certainly hadn't been that he would stand up to Valentine Morgenstern, even if he was apparently Jace's father. "Especially when what he does is right," Jace finished, causing Alec's heart to skip a beat in anticipation of what Valentine might do to him.
"Parabatai does not mean that you must senselessly follow him even on a path of destruction, Jonathan," Valentine answered, his voice eerily calm. Alec silently cursed Jace in an almost comical way, realizing that he himself was the one following Jace into danger and destruction. "Your oath does not require you to follow him when what he does is morally wrong. Not to mention dangerous for the good of the Clave."
For several moments, Alec thought that Jace wasn't going to respond, but when he did, he was surprised by the turn things took. "I'm not here to talk about your hatred of Downworlders, that's something you've already established," Jace said, his voice cold and hard. "I came to talk with you about Clary. I want you to explain everything to me once more, and don't leave anything out. I've got all the time in the world." Jace plan was to hear Valentine's story once more, to entice even more detail from him, to see if things still matched what he had told them just a few nights ago. Alec thought it was insane, that Valentine was far too intelligent to get his story mixed up, but Jace had insisted.
"Before we talk about that matter, why don't you invite your parabatai to the party Jonathan?" Valentine asked, his voice sprinkled with the mischief Alec so often found in Jace's voice. Alec's hand automatically went to his arrows as he stepped out from behind the wall he'd been using as cover. The last thing Alec saw before he hit the ground was Valentine pulling Jace toward a portal, the smile on his face telling Alec that he had a plan of his own. Alec felt the arrow in his hand snap as he hit the floor with it, and he consciously used all of his remaining energy to roll away from his bow, hoping that it would remain undamaged in the fall. He had no idea what Valentine had done to him, but what he did know was that he was losing consciousness very quickly, and all he could do was hope he remembered everything when that had happened when he woke up.
As always, come talk to me about your thoughts and feelings! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up, I was babysitting and then I got sick! Reminder that I will be without internet connection from June 20th to July 2nd!
Also, I wish to start a project where I begin writing about various things that need more awareness. Things like social issues, illnesses, disabilities, mental health, and so on! So far, I've written a fic having to do with rape, and I have a WIP where Max has epilepsy. I am planning things such as: Simon with hemophilia, Alec or possibly Magnus with depression, neruodivergent characters (BPD, autism, ADHA, and disorders of that sort), Alec with Alzheimer's, Jace's daughter with a heart defect, a young werewolf who is an abuse victim, and the likes.
All of that to say this: If you have any requests of what you would like to see me write about in this project, feel free to come message and let me know! I'm writing it for those who feel as though they are hidden by society, and I am writing this to bring awareness to many issues and so on that society tends to shove to the background. If you have anything at all, please, please let me know!