Bonjour mes amis.
Okay, not 7000 because I thought that this would be a good place to end, but it is the 29th. Also, can we make it to 85 reviews? Would 90 be pushing it?
In other news, a proposal about updates: would you like 7000 Words once a fortnight, 3000 a week or any other idea? Tell me in your reviews as I would love to be more regular for you darlings.
Also, I am newly on tumblr, I am theduckconspiracy so feel free to check me out on that.
Sarahps: *smiles*. I am glad you enjoyed it. I love writing cliffhangers. There is a sort of one in this chapter too. X
Londonrose: glad you like it. I was as fast as possible. X
Victoria: *evil laugh*. X
Percamalec: thank you! And it made me a little sad writing it :(. X
Thalicoforever: *evil laugh*. X
Carrie: thank you! I am so happy you think that :). X
D: thanks. I know I have a tendency to rush things, and I am trying to get better. I think this chapter may be a little better, but the ending certainly is weak. X
Guest: thank you for reading it! X
Greekgoddess: I HAVEN'T STOPPED WRITING DON'T WORRY! I have just been quite busy recently. As usual, your review was lovely, so thank you very much. And yes. I am invading your mind! Not really, but I am glad you loved the wedding description. It was inspired by your ideas, so thank you for that too! X
To all who review: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Clary had joined Alec and Jace just as the wedding ceremony had started, and she had dragged him of to some other tree to have a conversation, leaving Alec on his own to watch events unfurl. He hand slumped down in front of the tree, watching from the cover of a bush as Camille walked up the aisle. He had seen the way Magnus had smiled at presumably his bride smiling back at him, the rare smile that he gave when he was truly happy. It had broken his heart, because it had been that moment that had confirmed that Magnus had given his entirely to Camille in a way that he had never quite done to Alec.
Now the ceremony was just getting underway, and if he strained he could just make out the priests, voice, if not his words. He sighed, putting his head in his hands. He had known when he had argued with Jace that it had been an appalling idea to stay here, that it would do more harm than good and most likely crush him into a million tiny pieces, but something had compelled him to stay. He didn't know why, but he felt this was something that he needed to witness – his Magnus moving on. Maybe it would help him do the same. But Alec didn't want to move on. He just wanted Magnus back. That was clearly never going to happen now.
Just then another voice rang out into the silence of the congregation. One instantly recognisable, instantly familiar. Alec snapped his head up to see a small, black haired boy in a dark suit stand up proudly, dragging up another boy with similar hair besides him, and Magnus and Camille whipping their heads around to face the two of them. Even from the distance he could see the shock in Magnus's eyes as he turned, and suddenly Alec knew exactly what had been said – Will had decided to give a reason against the marriage. Furthermore, he had dragged Max to the wedding, which to be fair was to be expected of Will. So Magnus was probably properly confused on two counts. Alec pricked up his ears in an attempt to hear the rest of the conversation as Magnus stormed down the aisle towards his sons, Camille sauntering along more regally behind him.
"…do you think you are doing Will?!"
"Stopping the wedding."
Alec almost – almost – smiled to himself. Will said it bluntly, and simply, as if it was the most normal and expected thing in the world.
"Yes, I gathered that!" Sarcasm dripped from Magnus's voice like a melting lemon ice cube – it was also very sour. "But why?!"
"Because I have a valid reason. We have a valid reason. And I will not be able to hold my peace."
Alec saw Max try to look away, to hide himself from Magnus, but he clearly hadn't done so fast enough because Magnus's jaw dropped open. He quickly closed it again and launched explosively back at Will.
"What do you mean we? What does your best friend have to do with this?"
"I just thought I'd bring along moral support."
Will blagged. He actually sounded pretty convincing. Magnus's eyes narrowed.
"So what do you suppose this reason is then?"
"You don't know?"
"Will if you are going to go off on to some rant about how Camille doesn't love me and she is just using me again I do not want to hear it."
"I wasn't talking about Camille."
At least Alec thought that was what he had said. He said it very quietly. Almost inaudible. He was just trying to lip read.
"What?"
"I wasn't talking about Camille." He stated more confidently. "I am talking about you."
Magnus just looked confused.
"What do you mean?"
"You aren't in love with Camille."
Camille, who had been watching the whole scenario with a disjointed interest and had been picking at her nails, clearly feeling that the whole thing would blow over in a matter of minutes, suddenly stood up straight, nails forgotten. She walked towards Will.
"What do you mean that your father isn't in love with me?"
"He isn't in love with you. Magnus is in love with someone else."
Magnus raised his eyebrows in a practiced manner, though Alec could make out that his hands were shaking. Will and his speech were definitely having the desired effect.
"Am I now?"
"Yes."
"And who, pray, am I in love with over Camille? Who could I possibly…"
"Him."
"What?"
"My dad."
"What?"
"Magnus Bane, you are still in love with Alexander Lightwood."
And then the world went still.
Magnus's mind exploded. Every colour imaginable but blue erupted into his vision, swirling and flashing and crashing and exploding into one and other like paint balls. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to clear it, to clear the dizzy feeling that was engulfing him, drowning him in memories and fears that he thought that he would never have to worry about. He blinked a few times, and all of the colour began to seep away, flowing back into his skull painfully. He looked around to try and clear it entirely and suddenly in the bushes in the distance there was a flash of blue. He grabbed his temples, opened his eyes and stared at Will. Will stared back.
In that moment he completely to disguise anything, to pretend he didn't know what Will was talking about it. Instead, he asked the only thing that came to mind.
"How on earth do you know about Alec?"
Alec had taken a sharp intake of breath when he had heard his name. He had been expecting it, but it still held some sort of shock impact in the fact that Will had actually said it to Magnus, who knew nothing. But if Alec was shocked, it was nothing compared to Magnus. He appeared to blank out for a few seconds, and then he blinked a couple of times, clutching his temples, looking very, very confused and something else that Alec couldn't quite place from the distance he was at. For a moment it even appeared that he had stared right at Alec, but he put it down to a trick of the light. Magnus looked down straight at Will; everything else appeared to be nonexistent to him. At first he looked conflicted, and then again something else.
"How on earth do you know about Alec?"
Will did not break his gaze, but kept on staring right up at his dad.
Damn he was strong.
"That afternoon, Max recognised you. And he told me everything the next day. Who you were, who he was. Everything that you were too cowardly to say, he said it to me. He gave me back my family, Magnus, whilst you have just given me Hell because you are again too cowardly to admit that all of this with Camille is just a distraction from the real person you love because you are too proud to admit that you were wrong and too weak to try and fix the heartbreak which you have instead buried in this façade!"
He said the last sentence in a single breath, his voice rising from calm and logical to a hoarse shout.
Magnus look dumbfounded. Camille was stood blinking, as if she had just come out into bright sunlight. Under other circumstances it might have been funny.
The priest had put down his book and was watching the whole thing in fascination.
Most of the guests looked like they didn't know what to do with themselves.
Max tried to sit down but Will grabbed onto his elbow, and a glint of fear passed over his face. Max saw this, and kept standing. He was standing by his brother when he needed him. Alec was filled with pride.
Eventually Magnus turned away from his son and everyone and faced the trees just right of Alec, walking to the end of the aisle with his hand over his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked weary, worn down, very different from how he had merely minutes ago when he had been smiling and happy and carefree and supposedly in love. He didn't look in love now. He looked destroyed. Broken. Like he had been crushed.
He took in a deep breath, or at least, he appeared to. He put his hands on either side of his nose, and appeared to be contemplating something hard to contemplate, or making a decision that was hard to make, but had to be. He closed his eyes and sighed a weary sigh, as if he had accepted something that was inevitable but soul destroying. Maybe it was. It probably was. It almost definitely was. There was no doubt that it was. His eyes snapped open; he dropped his hands, and then turned away. It hurt Alec to see him like this, it really hurt, but it would end up much worse if he intervened. So he sat tight. He didn't move. He couldn't.
Magnus walked up towards where Will had moved into the aisle with Max trailing behind him nervously but determinedly, shaking slightly but not moving away from Will. Camille looked up from where she had been standing bored and stood resolutely next to but apart from Will. Magnus drew to a halt in front of all three of them, his hands clasped in front of him in a solemn manner. His head had been bowed, and now he raised it to face him.
And took Camille's hands in his own.
Clary leant against a tree and raised her eyebrows at Jace.
"I'm listening. So talk. You have one chance."
She could see the pain in his eyes, she knew that something was wrong, but he had launched off into the darkness for an entire month. Hadn't spoken to her once. Hadn't even let her know that he was okay in a simple text message. He had just abandoned his wife and his daughter and gone off to do goodness knows what after he had already dumped them in a fresh form of hell. If it hadn't been for Alec, Clary had no idea what she would have done. And she didn't exactly like the idea of contemplating it either.
"Well…first of all, I got a job?"
He suggested tentatively. He was clearly very nervous.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"What?"
"Umm…potentiallyitsmodellingatthismassivefashionmagazinethatyoureadandIthinkmaybeBaneistheeditorof."
Clary raised her eyebrows and looked at him.
"Care to repeat that at slower than the speed of sound?"
Jace gulped, and took a deep breath.
"I have got a job modelling at that fashion magazine you really liked. I mean, as a last resort. I did try to get a proper job first…"
He trailed off.
"Does it bring in a reliable source of income?"
"Should do, unless I screw up really bad, which I do not intend on doing."
Clary sighed, and wrapped her arms around her body.
"Well it is a start, I suppose, and we can talk more about it later. But it still offers to no explanation to why you disappeared off of the face of the earth, Jace."
She didn't sound angry, at least to her own ears. She just sounded exasperated and tired and fed up. And by the look on Jace's face, it was how he interpreted it too.
"Well, I felt like you needed a break from me. After the way you sounded that night…I thought you wanted me gone until I sorted myself out. Clary, I genuinely thought that was what you wanted, so I crashed with Jordan, I smashed my phone up so I wasn't tempted – well, I kept the sim – and then when I was finally ready I got a new phone with a small bit of my first pay packet and came to find you again. I am really sorry Clary, I honestly thought it was what you wanted, I didn't realise that you didn't… I am sorry Clary, I was stupid, and oh God…"
He honestly looked like he felt wretched about the whole issue. He was pale, dark rings under his eyes, indicating that he hadn't eaten much or slept mush in the past couple of days, and there were faint tracks on his face, like the ghosts of long forgotten scars, indicating that he had been crying. He hung his head dismally; his right hand on his left elbow. His left hand was shaking ever so slightly. Clary made up her mind.
"Oh, Jace. You are mad, you know that? Mad in a cute and sometimes annoying way."
"Does this mean I am forgiven?"
"Of course. It doesn't mean that I'm not angry, but of course. Just please stop with these bad things with good intentions. They are becoming a bit…stressful."
Jace half sobbed, half laughed.
And then Clary remembered.
He had seemed really off. Really, mega off. And he had been crying. And not sleeping. And not eating. Not good.
"Jace, what's the matter."
"Dad."
"Jace, you haven't seen him since you were eight, and I know that having anyone like that die can be hard but it was over two years ago, and you never knew him…"
Jace shook his head, his eyes becoming a little glassy. Jace Herondale never cried.
"He isn't dead."
"Jace, isn't it a bit late for denial?"
"He isn't dead, Clary."
"Jace…"
"I saw him this morning. He came up and talked to me, useless crap, but…"
"You saw him?"
She half whispered.
"Yeah. Valentine in the flesh. He is just as much a dick still as everyone said, but it was like…"
"Like seeing a ghost?"
He nodded weakly.
"Oh Jace…"
She rushed forward and enveloped him in her arms, standing on her tiptoes and clinging on to him. He grabbed her back desperately. She could remember the nights after he had found out, when she was heavily pregnant with Tessa, and he had been either just blank, sitting for hours on end and not moving, not doing anything and just staring ahead unblinkingly, or a mess, kneeling on the floor and trying his hardest not to loose it completely. She had sat there with him those nights, helping him to desperately keep it together, holding him close and whispering softly into his ear when he couldn't, and everything in between. His dad had meant a lot to him, in a strange way. He had been the only one for Jace when he was growing up, and even after Jace had been adopted at seven, he had still seen the man for a while. Losing him had hurt Jace, and Clary couldn't bear to have to see him go through it again; but she was terrified that she would have to.
Just then Jace's phone beeped, signalling a text. Talk about bad timing. He drew back again, once more sob laughing.
"Do you mind if I check this?"
She shook her head, realising that she was crying too.
"No, that's fine."
He pulled it out of his back pocket, pressing a few buttons and scrolling down, and then with a final flourished press stopped. Clary watched as he quickly read the few lines of writing, his eyes getting gradually larger by the second. By the end of it he looked like and owl. Clary tried no to laugh, but instantly found it a lot easier to be serious when Jace turned the phone around to show her.
"Oh shit. We have got to go find Alec."
Magnus took Camille's gloved hands firmly in his own, rubbing the backs of them gently with his thumbs and looking up into the acid green eyes that drifted occasionally into his dreams and had seemed to invade all of his nightmares since he was fifteen. She had stayed up with him all night talking about the past, stuck with him even when he had been less than nice to him, and looked after Will for years. Really, there was no choice in it. The option was clear. It took him a couple of seconds to decide what to do, and then he closed his eyes. When he snapped them open, Camille was smiling slightly at him expectantly, hopefully.
He moved his hands forward carefully. At first the smile continued, and as Magnus slid his hands slowly back it turned to a frown and then a scowl. Her mouth hung open in uncharacteristically ugly look when he withdrew his hands completely. Magnus reached up his right hand and shut her mouth gently, and then lowered it again, back to the clasped position, looking into her evil eyes.
"What is it they say, Camille? Salt over the left shoulder into the face of the devil? Well this like salt in open wounds. Stinging even when you can't feel it. And stinging when you can, too."
"What do you mean, Magnus? What are you on about?"
Her voice was shaking slightly, her green eyes threatening to glisten. Then they glassed over. She looked confused and angry and a bit distraught. Magnus had never really thought that Camille could have feelings that deep.
He turned to face his sons, Max still hiding, Will looking up at him, angry and confused. He looked into those blue eyes that reminded him so much of Alec, the colour of the sky at twilight, the colour of the sun shining on the stormy ocean, the colour of a raven when the sun glistens on it like oil. Will looked at him with those beautiful eyes, and they showed all of his emotions, everything he felt.
"I'm sorry."
He chucked his right hand over his left shoulder.
"And there goes all of the salt. Goodbye, Camille. I want your shit out of my apartment by tonight, and I don't ever want to see your face again. I made a mistake taking you after Alec. I made a mistake taking you when I was with Alec. And that mistake ends right now. Okay, right now."
"Magnus…"
"I do not want to hear the crap anymore Camille. I don't. And I won't. Goodbye."
Camille sauntered off down towards the altar, throwing her bouquet on the floor, muttering under her breath, her shirts ripping and her makeup smudging as a tear ran down her cheek. But Magnus wasn't looking at her. He was looking at his sons. Max was looking nervous, and Will's eyes were sparkling, his mouth broken into a grin. Magnus twitched the corner of his mouth up at him.
"Go to the Institute with Max. I'll collect you later. Get Hodge to look after you until then, okay?"
Will nodded.
And then Magnus turned on his heels and walked towards the trees, the riot of greens now faded to oranges and browns. Just like his life. Since Alec, it had lost its colour, even when he was specifically trying to brighten it up, like on the day that he had proposed. Alec had been the real colour in Magnus Bane's life, and with Alec he had had the Magnus spark, the thing that made him exciting and full of life. Some remained but he had felt it bleed from him gradually as the years had gone by, just like the colour bled from trees in autumn.
There was the flash of blue again as Magnus rushed towards the trees ever faster, wanting to get away from the crowds of people and just be alone. He stopped, and tried to blink the dots of colour away, but they wouldn't go. Then they blinked at him. And that freaked him out. He broke off into a run into the forest, crashing through the branches, snagging his suit, the black that Camille had made him wear. The only splash of colour he had was the red bow tie around his neck. Magnus grabbed his jacket and threw it off, still running. He couldn't face anything just yet. Not just yet.
He was getting further and further into the trees. He was totally lost. It was dark here, the trees almost entirely blotting out the light, but he refused to stop, refused to try and figure it out. He just ran forwards, not looking back. He had been going for five minutes when there was a sparkle of light in the distance, and he could see the road, and people walking past it. He slumped down against a tree, undoing the bow tie and wrapping his arms around his knees, putting his forehead onto them. He was exhausted, mentally and physically and emotionally. He felt the darkness playing with him before it finally engulfed him, and he slumped to the ground.
Alec blinked back the tears as those confused golden green eyes stared at him for a split second. It only took a split second. Just long enough to see the hurt and pain and confusion in them before the man took of into the trees next to him. He rubbed his eyes to get rid of any hint of moisture and put the object into his jeans pocket. He needed to move on. He had to, or he was never going to be able to live his life fully. But he just didn't know how to.
A sudden rustle from behind made him jump; he turned around to find Jace and Clary, who had clearly sorted out their differences, running towards him quickly, both looking incredibly worried. He staggered to his feet, using the tree to help him up, and dusted off his jeans as they regained their breath. He had just got the last few leaves off when Jace spoke up.
"Alec, we have to go. Now. No negotiation."
"Why?"
"This."
Jace pulled his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans and showed it to Alec. It was frozen on a text, about five lines long. Five lines that made Alec's vision go temporarily white. He blinked and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before facing Jace and Clary again. Both of them had gone very pale, as Alec could only assume that he had done too – mind you, Jace had looked pretty pale and like death that morning anyway.
"Okay, I see your point. I'll just get Max and Will, and then we can go…"
"Alec, we haven't got the time!"
"Yes we have. They're right over there."
"Oh…right…what?"
"I'll explain on the way. Can I just get them now?"
"Yeah, yeah sure, um, yeah."
"Okay. One minute."
He crashed through the bushes and towards the wedding guests, who were all milling around, clearly unsure as to what to do with themselves. No one noticed as he walked towards his two sons, who were standing talking in an animated manner to each other at the end of the red carpeted aisle. He smiled at Will's attire – it had clearly been influenced by Magnus, with it looking every so slightly like leather, and blue, and sparkly. It looked good on him. As Alec walked right up to the pair of them Will turned – he had obviously seen him out of the corner of his eye.
"Dad!"
He exclaimed, and rushed forward into his arms.
"Dad, why are you here? I was sure that you and Max didn't know…"
"Um, I didn't, I just stumbled here, it's a long story, but we need to go. Now. All of us."
"Oh, okay."
By this point Max had appeared at Will's shoulder.
"What's going on?"
"We're all going, now. Come on, quickly."
"Why?"
"On the way. Okay. On the way."
Alec grabbed Will and Max, one with each hand, and began striding determinedly across the grass to where Jace and Clary were waiting. Will smiled as soon as he saw them, and waved as they got closer. He really liked his family. Alec supposed that after growing up with just Magnus and Camille – if you could count her as family - having a whole set of uncles and aunts and cousins must be great. Well, time to go get some more.
Clary was regretting having dropped Tessa of at Maureen's now. I had seemed a good idea at the time, but now that they day was progressing she really just wished that she could have her little girl with her. But it was no matter, nothing could be done now.
The group of them, Clary, Jace, Alec, Will and Max had decided to split up and go in two separate cabs, Clary and Jace in one and Alec in the other. The two of them were sat in a comfortable silence – Clary never tended to stay mad at Jace for too long, and this time he had actually done something to sort his mistakes out, which was new, so she was feeling slightly more inclined to be nice to him than as was usual after an argument.
It may have been comfortable, but the atmosphere was still a little tense; partially because Clary couldn't quite get over the fact that what Jace had done was a very big deal, even when she was trying to pass it off as nothing – she expected that the full rage and seriousness of the situation would come up at some point later, but for now it was being ignored – and also due to what they were travelling towards. In the text Simon had been brief and had said that currently things weren't atrocious – but he mentioned that it could have changed at any moment. Clary really hoped things hadn't gotten any worse, because that had the potential to be catastrophic for the sort-of-family.
The cab turned yet another corner, and Clary found herself internally screaming for it to go faster, to get her there faster. As if he was telepathic – or potentially because he was fed up getting stuck behind people – the driver slammed his foot down and they were going at an almost frightening speed, hurtling along at a pace that made her want to throw up. But she didn't, and pretty quickly it was pulling up alongside the unloading bays of the Beth Israel.
Clary fumbled for the door handle and yanked the thing open, practically jumping out of the vehicle and onto the sidewalk. Jace followed swiftly after and the cab sped off into the distance again, and out of sight; but none of that really mattered. Clary's eyes continued to scan the area, desperately searching between the many people for the familiar mop of brown hair and lopsided glasses that was Simon. Eventually she spotted him, pacing around nervously and running his hands through his hair desperately just outside the doors, and pushed her was through the teeming crowds of people.
"Simon!"
She called, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear and halting abruptly in front of him.
"Clary?"
"Simon, what's happened?"
"Well, James has been born."
"Oh my god Simon, congratulations!"
Clary screamed, and enveloped him in a massive hug, standing on her tiptoes to reach his neck.
"Nice one."
Said Jace, who had clapped him on the back. If Simon was surprised to see Jace then he didn't show it.
"But…but Izzy…there were some complications. They reckon that it was eclamsia and well…Iz…she's in a coma."
Clary gasped, and Jace swore colourfully. Simon looked like he was about to cry, so Clary reached up and hugged him forcefully just as someone behind him began to growl.
"Are you fucking serious?!"
Simon looked terrified. Alec looked so angry that Clary expected that he would probably be able to rip apart a duckling if one got in his way. Even Will looked nervous, and he was never scared. Even if he was eight.
"I...I'm sorry Alec...I..."
"Which room?"
"What?"
"Which room is she in? I need to see my sister?"
"Ummm...FA518 I think."
And with that, Alec was off.
"So, who wants to see James Lewis?"
So? Was that okay?
Lu xxx