Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended
Author's note: I look forward to hear all your opinions on this chapter... and to the really kind Guest that asked me if I'm a professional writer... I wish! But I'm not. Just a hobby!
"I never expected you would be able to make Jia agree." Jocelyn said while painting the Alliance rune on Luke.
"It's my nephew we're talking about," Maryse replied, checking her equipment. "Robert needs to stay behind with Jia to coordinate the rest of the Shadowhunters, but I pointed out to our beloved Consul that with or without her consent we would come anyway. And it's just two Nephilim and a werewolf, they can do without us."
The training room at the New York Institute was a blur of activity while the Shadowhunters were getting ready, arming themselves to the teeth. Jace's call for help to Idris had been answered surprisingly quick, allowing Jocelyn, Maryse and Luke to come immediately while the rest of the Nephilim were getting ready as fast as they could to come as backup.
"Alright people, the plan is easy." Jace called from the door making everyone turn to him. "Clary can portal us directly into the Seelie Court, in the room where Will was kept. They won't expect it, especially not so soon. Then we open our path through everything they will throw at us, we rescue Will and Kaelie and we get the hell out of there. If the Shadowhunters in Idris show up, that's great, but they'll have to access the Fairy Kingdom by one of the entrances we know, so it will take time before they reach us. Our main concerns are Will and Kaelie. Everything else can and will wait."
"Piece of cake." Luke muttered, shoving a knife in his belt. "Not like there is the entire Seelie Court waiting for us..."
"Scared?" Jocelyn smiled at her husband, the flame of her hair matching the one in her eyes. She was definitely ready to kick some ass.
"With you by my side? Never." Luke laughed, leaning in for a quick kiss. "It's just been quite some time since our last fight together. And this will be a huge one."
"Let's just hope the backup will be quick. We will really have the whole Seelie Court on our back." Jocelyn commented, shaking her head.
Some steps away, Clary was checking her weapons and packing a couple of extra steles when Jace caught her by the elbow and lead her away from the others.
"Listen to me," he quietly said. "If we're lucky enough and Will is in the room when we cross the Portal, I want you to grab him and portal to Alicante straight away."
Clary stiffened and opened her mouth to argue but Jace cut her short. "We obviously can't bring him with us and he will need you. He hasn't seen you in months, we can't just let my mother or yours bring him to safety while we stay behind. One of us has to go with him."
"And you decided that one should be me." Clary said, cold ice in her voice.
Jace nodded, his jaw set. "Just think, ok? We need to save Kaelie as well, and we don't know where she is. We don't know if we'll— damn it, Clary, I need to know Will is safe with you. I need to know that if we don't make it, our son won't grow up without his mother. You can protect him in ways that Jocelyn and Maryse can't. And if we can't stop this war from happening, if the fairies attack Alicante, I need to know you will be there to save our son."
"But—"
He grabbed her shoulders and squeezed. "The vampires, Clary. They know about us, they know about William. If I don't make it out of today alive—"
"Stop." She broke his hold, her eyes screaming in denial. "We will. We both will. We'll go home with William and we'll be safe. You can't go into the fight thinking we will fail."
"I'm not!" He tried to keep his voice low. "But I need to plan the future, every type of future. And Will has a future only if you're with him, only if you keep him safe."
"What about today?" She asked. "If I leave, how will you get out when you find Kaelie? What if Magnus is injured and can't open a Portal?"
"I'll keep him safe. I'll be glued by his side if needed. But Clary," he raised a hand, slowly caressing her cheek. "Just promise me. Ease my mind. This isn't about you being weak or not good enough to fight. This is about William and giving him his family back."
She didn't say anything for a minute, then she bit her lip. "I want to kill Jiliel. I need to kill him."
"He won't survive today, I promise you. He will be there to protect the Queen and I'll slaughter him." Jace took her hand, slowly caressing her knuckles. "Your hands are my hands, do you remember?"
Yes, she did. And she remembered how much he wanted to kill Sebastian, how much he needed to kill him for what he did, just like she did with Jiliel. And yet he had to step aside and let her do it.
She breathed deeply, squeezing the hand that was caressing her. Leaving him there would kill her, but he was right: her runes were an extra layer of protection and they needed to put their son before everything else, including themselves. William deserved it.
"I promise you."
William wasn't there. The circular, colourful room was empty and since his toys were still scattered around, it was likely that Will was taken away in a hurry.
"Damn it." Clary spoke softly activating the tracking rune to look for Will. "He's still here, I know it. How about Kaelie?"
She turned to Magnus who was using a hair ribbon to track the fairy through magic. The warlock nodded. "Still here as well. We'll follow the signals and we'll split up if they go into different directions."
The group silently left the room, all weapons ready, all senses focused in catching the slightest sound. Clary knew she should be scared but all she could feel was excitement: finally, after all those months, she was doing something. She was acting, she wasn't a victim anymore. She had hope again. And if she had to open her path through all the Seelie Court to reach her son, well, too bad for the fairies. She wasn't going to be stopped by anything or anyone.
The first time they met a fairy, it was a young girl leaving what was probably her room. She had long, wavy hair and innocent brown eyes that widened in horror when she saw the black clad group. She opened her mouth to scream but Simon was already there, silencing her and pushing her through the door she came from. A strangled sound a moment later told them the girl had been dealt with and Simon's quiet "She'll sleep for a while," had them breathing in relief.
The second fairy was a soldier, hastily going toward the throne room. Luke was on him in a heartbeat, keeping him from screaming or fighting back: he was a young fairy, probably barely twenty years old and when Luke dragged him in a open, empty room, the group stopped and went in as well.
"Where's the captive pixie. Where's the human child." The werewolf growled in the fairy's face, but the soldier kept his mouth shut until Luke pressed his knife on the boy's throat. "You're about to be the first casualty in this war. We'll find them anyway, but if you tell us where they are, you can at least spare some lives."
"As if you kept your word." The fairy spat in Luke's face. "Kill me if you must. Just like the Shadowhunters killed my father and my brothers in Alicante."
"We all lost someone in the Dark War, kid. My sister died as well. Do you want your comrades to meet that fate too? We want Kaelie Whitewillow and William Herondale and if we have to set the whole Court on fire to get to them, we will."
"The General is waiting for you. You'll never leave the Seelie Court alive!"
At that, Luke turned the fairy on his stomach and proceeded to hit him in the head with the hilt of his dagger, leaving him unconscious. Then he stood up, meeting Jocelyn's stare.
"What?" He grimaced. "I wasn't about to kill a kid just because he's been brainwashed to hate us. And he wouldn't have told us anything. But we know this is a trap, gentlemen." He turned to Jace. "How much would you bet that Kaelie is in the throne room with all the soldiers Jiliel could find on such short notice? A nice, beaten bait, waiting for us."
Jace nodded, turning to Magnus. "We'll go straight there because the Seelie Queen's private rooms are past the throne room and I bet she's in there with Will and her daughter. Tell me if your tracking spell sends you in a different direction. And be ready to throw up a shield as soon as we reach the throne room. I have a feeling we'll be welcomed by a rain of arrows."
Magnus nodded , his eyes glowing. "If this is a trap, we won't find anybody else on our way to the throne room. Jiliel wouldn't risk us to kill his soldiers one by one in the corridors, he'll want them all together to outnumber us."
"And that's why we have to be prepared to a massive battle when we get there. It won't be pretty." Jace looked at the rest of the group but he didn't see fear, only determination. They were ready.
"Piece of cake, Jacey." Magnus smirked as they left the room. "Magnus the Magnificent is here, don't forget that."
"Will you two quit the small talk?" Isabelle snapped, uncharacteristically tense. "I'm trying to listen if we're walking into an ambush or not."
"Easy." Maryse murmured, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder before turning to the group. "Ready to go?"
They resumed walking, as silent as a deadly predator, and Magnus' prediction turned true when they failed to meet a single fairy on their path to the throne room, where both Kaelie's and William's signals were pointing. The Seelie Court's lights dimmed while they advanced, to the point they needed their witchlights to see where they were going.
"Magnus," Jace whispered when they reached the curtain that separated them from the throne room. "You're our first line of defence. Be ready."
The warlock's answer was a blue, flickering light dancing on his palm and Jace breathed in deeply, looking at the Shadowhunters. When Alec, his bow ready in his hands, gave him a light nod, Jace turned and the group barged in the throne room as a one, coordinated unit, using the witchlights to explore the surroundings.
They saw her immediately but their training took over, preventing a single sound escaping anyone's lips: Kaelie was locked in an iron cage, something Alec immediately recognised as the torture device used in the Unseelie Court. The fairy was laying on her side, her arms locked around herself, her eyes closed. Her clothes were torn, her body covered in dried blood and she was shacking and softly moaning as if she didn't have the strength to scream anymore.
A nice, beaten, bait, Jace reminded himself, trying to resist the urge to run and get Kaelie to safety. What had they done to her? It looked like she couldn't even move anymore!
And then, before any of them could do anything, the trap sprang.
A sudden light blinded them, a light so intense they all had to close their eyes and turn their heads, momentarily disoriented.
"Magnus!" Alec shouted, but the warlock was already in motion, throwing up a shield that covered them just as the arrows started raining down on them. He couldn't stop them all and a sudden cry of pain from Maryse and Jocelyn told them they were hit.
Hell broke loose as dozens of fairy warriors descended on them with a loud battle cry and drawing their swords.
"Clary, go free Kaelie, now!" Jace screamed parrying and dodging and putting himself between the warriors and his wife. It was like a dam blocking a storm, he was hitting anybody who dared to try and pass him. "Isabelle, Simon, with her!"
Clary didn't waste a second and ran to the cage with her parabatai right on her heels, protecting her side. As she knelt in front of it, she could hear Isabelle swinging her whip left and right, keeping everybody away from her. The lock of the cage was broken, something to ensure it wouldn't be easy to open it, but Clary took her stele out and simply concentrated, letting her fingers fly on it and drawing a rune that spoke of freedom to her mind.
As soon as the cage opened, Clary carefully extracted Kaelie from it and froze in horror: the fairy had been tortured. Her hands and feet were broken, her back was torn and raw as she had been whipped but the most terrible wound was on her stomach: it was a knife wound, still bleeding and weakening the pixie. Clary exchanged a look with Kaelie and she saw it in her eyes: she knew she was dying.
"I'm so sorry…" Clary whispered holding the fairy, knowing there was nothing she could do for her: her healing runes would kill her and the moment Clary raised her face to call for Magnus, Kaelie shook her head. Her breathing was quick and shallow and pain was all over her face. As she tried to speak, Clary lowered to her to catch what she was whispering.
"Don't waste time for me… the knife was poisoned." She coughed some blood while Clary pressed her hand on the wound as hard as she could to slow down the bleeding. "I haven't told him anything about the Princess… he doesn't know you can find them down there." There was no doubt who the "him" was and even knowing how wicked Jiliel was, the thought that he could have tortured so much his own sister chilled Clary's blood. "The Queen is there with William, she'll take him away. My brother is with her. You need to go."
Clary paled, catching her breath. If the Queen managed to disappear with her daughter and William they would never find them again.
"Clary…" Kaelie lifted her broken hand and rested it on the Shadowhunter's arm. "The Princess… save her. Please, I beg you…"
Clary's expression turned to stone but she didn't answer.
"I'm dying Clary…"A tear ran down Kaelie's cheek. "Please, let me go knowing our heir is safe. Please, have mercy."
Clary's mind was screaming all sort of things, but just one of them made it to her voice and even then she could barely manage a strangled whisper. "She's Sebastian's daughter."
And just for that she should be damned to hell and beyond. She had demon blood in her, she was evil to the core. She had to be. How could Kaelie even think on letting that kind of evil free to go? Sebastian almost burned the world to the ground, surely his daughter would do no less. And this time they could not be lucky enough to stop her.
"She's blood of your blood, she's just a helpless child… just like William is. She didn't choose to come to this world, she's innocent…"
Innocent? Clary wanted to laugh. Nobody born from Sebastian could ever be innocent. And to think her mother was the bitch that stole her son from her… no, that infant was far from innocent. Evil was thick in her blood, it was part of her.
Kaelie coughed up more and closed her eyes, unwilling to see the rejection in Clary's face. Her heart broke knowing that the little, innocent child she had known would be probably be left sleeping in her crystal until the end of time, never loved, never warm, alone in the dark. It was unbearable. Sensing the end was approaching, she tried to find some peace of mind, thinking about happy memories, looking in her heart for something to guide her into her final moments but all she could see was a pair of golden eyes set in a beautiful face. Meeting Jace changed her life and ultimately led her to her death but she couldn't find in her heart regret for her actions. Not one.
"Tell Jace I'm sorry for everything." Kaelie whispered. "I wish I could have done more…"
And then, as Clary held her, she drew one last breath before finally breaking free from her pain.
Unwanted tears filled Clary's eyes as she slowly caressed the pixie's blond hair. Then she set her gently on the floor and joined the battle beside Simon and Isabelle, screaming: "Jace! The Queen is escaping! We need to go now!"
The throne room was a mess, filled with bodies, the floor slick with blood. A quick glance told her that the Shadowhunters were still standing even though they were wounded and bleeding but the power of their runes, Magnus' magic and Luke's fierceness in his lycantrope form were keeping the enemies at bay, slowly turning the tides of the battle in their favour.
"Go!" Alec shouted, throwing back a soldier that was rushing at him. "We'll manage here. Don't let her get away!"
Jace turned around without a word, exchanging a glance with his parabatai. Then he nodded and ran to Clary, swinging his sword whenever a fairy came too close. When he saw Kaelie he stopped dead, fury and grief flashing in his golden eyes and his hands tightened in painful fists before he ran off even faster to the Queen's chambers, murder clearly written in his face. Clary ran with him and together they opened a bloodied path while Simon and Isabelle made sure nobody could hit them from behind.
The Queen's chambers were empty and silent but they didn't stop to check if the documents that would condemn Clary were there: they would think about that later. Instead they rushed to the wall where Kaelie said the secret door was and Clary didn't waste time trying to find the unlocking mechanism. She drew a rune over it and the door sprang open, clearing a path of descending stairs. Almost flying down the steps, their only light their glowing swords, they never faltered or risked to fall down, graceful as only a predator could be. And they were predators now, ruthless parents willing to do anything to get their child back. And God help whoever crossed their paths.