Malace || Shadowhunters || Malace || Demon On Your Shoulder || Malace || Shadowhunters || Malace

Title: Demon On Your Shoulder – The Split Soul's Soulmates

Fandom: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Disclaimer: All rights to the Shadowhunters show reserved to Ed Decter, the books the show is based off and its characters belong to Cassandra Clare. This fanfiction on the other hand is entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: polyamory (m/m/m), alpha/beta/omega dynamics, soulmate AU, daemons, past child abuse, hurt/comfort, angst, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, f/f, m/f

Main Pairing: Magnus/Alec/Jace

Side Pairings: Lydia/Izzy, Simon/Clary, Luke/Catarina

Shadowhunters Characters: Jonathan 'Jace' Herondale, Magnus Bane, Alexander 'Alec' Lightwood, Isabelle Lightwood, Clarissa 'Clary' Fray, Simon Lewis, Lydia Branwell, Madzie, Catarina Loss, Luke Garroway, Raphael Santiago, Maxwell Lightwood, Imogen Herondale, Valentine Morgenstern

Daemons: Aurea (Jace's Golden Retriever), Celestina (Jace's barn owl), Shyama (Magnus' panther), Minerva (Alec's snow owl), Dolios (Max's raccoon), Nagendra (Izzy's cobra), Timon (Lydia's lynx), Seraphina (Clary's robin), Adina (Simon's rat), Ares (Andrew's dog), Piedad (Raph's bat), Menelaus (Cat's lion), Regulus (Madzie's bunny), Lupercalia (Luke's wolf), Cornelius (Imogen's horned owl)

Summary: Everyone had a daemon, an animal-shaped manifestation of their own soul, and bore a picture of their soulmate's daemon on their body. Everyone, aside from Jace. Because Valentine split his soul, giving him two daemons – and took the one on his soulmate's marks. So even when he meets them and recognizes them by their daemons, his daemon doesn't match.

Demon On Your Shoulder

The Split Soul's Soulmates

Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Owls

Not long after Michael had taken Aurea away, the man was killed. Right in front of his son's eyes. The blood. Everywhere. The look on his father's face. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw it. He'd thrown up, repeatedly. All he could do was cling onto Celestina, the little owl cooing softly trying to sooth him. Adults came by and talked to him, but he didn't really remember any of the conversation he'd had. Vaguely, he was aware that he must have given a recount of what had happened, yet all he could remember was the image of his dying father in his mind.

Someone took him away from his home. Just him, Celestina and a bag with what little belongings he had. Because he would never return here. They took him away from his home, to live with his father's parabatai – but he hadn't even known that his father had a parabatai! He'd never met this person and now he was supposed to live with them and their family...?

Everything was so overwhelming. The New York Institute was large and there were so many people staring at him. The Lightwoods were awkward about it, they told him that they were sorry for his loss and brought him to a room that was going to be his new bedroom and then they left him to it. Giving him time to settle in, was what they said. He couldn't find it in himself to care either way. All he did was sink down in front of the door, not even moving away from it. He sat curled together there, hugging Celestina and being haunted by the memory of his dying father.

/break\

Alec was very curious about the new boy. His parents had informed him and Isabelle that his father's parabatai had died and his now orphaned son would be moving into the New York Institute. Robert and Maryse had agreed to keep an eye on the boy. Izzy was totally excited about this. There weren't all that many children at the New York Institute, aside from them, Raj and Lindsey. So a new kid would mean a new playmate. Alec loved that his sister still got to have that kind of childish thinking to it, even though their mother was slowly putting more and more pressure on her too.

"I'm going to check on Maxie," announced Isabelle, a bounce to her steps.

Alec smiled softly at her and nodded. "Have fun."

"I wanna go with her! I want to see the small one too," declared Alec's daemon.

That made Alec smile even more. Maxie was still very tiny, he was only two years old. Very small and adorable and it got Isabelle excited to finally be an older sibling herself. And much like Izzy, Alec's daemon was also very fascinated by the toddler. Alec reached out to gently caress her head before the snow owl flew off to follow Izzy out.

It wasn't bad to be a bit apart and for a short while, but the longer the distance was or if they did it for a longer time, the separation from his daemon hurt. Within the Institute was mostly fine though.

While Izzy and Minerva went to look at the toddler, Alec decided to focus more on training. He loved archery, he'd been obsessed with it for years. His goal was to become the best archer, not just in their institute but that the Clave had. Sure, he was learning hand-to-hand combat and swords-play too, the way every Shadowhunter did, but he wanted something all for himself. He wanted to excel at something. Stand out. Because he was the Lightwood heir, the eldest child of the Lightwoods.

The duty of that was an even heavier burden ever since he had presented as a beta, because he would have to work trice as hard as any alpha did. He'd always hoped he'd present as an alpha, it would make the path laid out for him much easier. This was fine though. He got used to being a beta, he didn't mind being a beta and he was a hard worker so it wouldn't be a problem.

"Woah! Easy there, we're on the same side."

Alec startled out of his thoughts and looked at the blonde boy he had just nearly shot. There was a playful, nearly cocky, grin on his lips. He had both his hands lifted up in surrender. While he looked cock-sure, the boy's daemon was huffing up in irritation. An owl. Alec blinked curiously as he stepped closer. He'd never seen the boy or the daemon before in the institute.

"You must be Jonathan, right?" guessed Alec softly. "I'm... sorry for your loss."

"Right. Yeah," the blonde winced. "I'm... Yeah, thanks."

The owl landed on the boy's shoulder and Alec got a proper look. After Minerva had presented as an owl, Alec grew a bit obsessed with them. He read everything he could and learned about the various breeds of owls. This one was a barn owl, with the beautiful white and nearly golden brown hues.

"I'm Alec. Alexander Lightwood. It's good to meet you. If you... If you need anything, you can come to me, okay? I know this must all be a lot for you..."

"You have no idea," muttered Jonathan beneath his breath.

Alec felt like prying but was also aware that he didn't know the other boy enough to pry. So instead, he tried to come up with anything else to say. His parents had asked him to keep an eye on the blonde, after all. Alec sniffed just a little bit and realized Jonathan was also a beta. Good. That meant they had something in common, right? Maybe he could work with that.

"What's... your daemon's name?" asked Alec instead, looking at the owl.

"Oh. That's... Celestina," offered Jonathan, his eyes also on the daemon. "Where's yours?"

"Ah, roaming close by. Within the institute, you and your daemon can be apart for a while."

"I' rather not," came the prompt reply, in a cut and sharp voice.

Curious. Well, then again the boy was an orphan now, right? He'd already lost his mother, only recently had lost his father. Right now, his daemon was all he had. That thought punched Alec right in the gut. He had to think about what he'd feel if he had lost everyone aside from Minerva.

"Right, of course," Alec cleared his throat and paused, not knowing what to say. "I... If you'd like, I could show you around the institute? Show you where everything is?"

"Yeah. That sounds... Thanks, Alec."

/break\

It wasn't until his second day at the institute that Jonathan first saw Alec's daemon. After the beta had nearly shot him with an arrow, he had shown Jonathan around the institute, given him a grand tour. But before they could meet up with Alec's siblings, Jonathan excused himself. Being with just Alec had been fine, but the thought of more people was still too much for him. It had already been hard enough to put on the carefree front when it had just been Alec. Because he couldn't show weakness, Wayland men do not show weakness, Jonathan. He had to act brave and as though none of this affected him. He was stronger than any of this.

On day two, he met Isabelle officially during breakfast. She had a cobra curled around her shoulders, its head resting on top of her head. Interesting daemon. Jace had rarely seen reptiles.

"That's..." Jace had meant to say something to Isabelle, but then Alec entered the room.

All thoughts left Jace's brain as he saw the daemon circling Alec overhead. A snow owl with piercing eyes. It was strange, there were probably millions of snow owls in the world and even in a line-up of them all, he would recognize this one. He'd spent too much time staring at it on his own body. That was his soul-mark. This daemon was on his body, because... because Alexander Lightwood was his soulmate. Celestina next to him tensed, feeling his emotions.

"Jonathan," Alec offered a smile as he sat down next to his sister.

Why did that sound awful now? It hadn't bothered him before. Well, not too much. Since it was his name. But now, all he could think of was the fact that his father was the only one who called him that and something deep inside him made him not want to hear that name from his soulmate.

"I don't..." Jonathan paused, unsure how to voice his thoughts. "Like that name."

"But... it's your name, right?" asked Isabelle, looking confused.

"I... know. But I still... don't like being called that."

"Oh!" Isabelle nodded wildly, looking excited now. "You need a nickname! Like Alec! Because Alexander is all... stiff and stuffy and doesn't fit, so we call him Alec."

"Okay. That... That sounds good, yeah. I'd like to have a nickname."

"How about... Johnny?" suggested Isabelle, wiggling her nose.

He made a face at that and shook his head. "No. No, definitely not."

"Just Jon then?" suggested Alec, his dark eyes so warm.

"Mh... No. I don't know, it doesn't... feel right either."

Alec's eyebrows furrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest. Oh no. Was he getting on his soulmate's nerves? He knew how much his father hated indecisiveness. Maybe he could live with Jon after all? Surely he could get used to it. As long as it won't chase his soulmate away. Before he had a chance to voice a change of mind though, he could hear Isabelle giggle.

"That's Alec's serious thinking face, that means he is taking this task very, very seriously and won't stop until he figures out a good answer for you. I'm sure he'll pick the perfect name!"

Oh. With blinking eyes did he turn to watch Alec more closely. But Alec didn't even know him, why would he put that much thought into this? And... that meant he wasn't annoying...?

"Your name, your full name, it's Jonathan Christopher Wayland, right?" asked Alec, earning a nod. "So... maybe we can work with more of that? How about Chris?"

Again a displeased nose-wiggle. "Doesn't... Doesn't feel right either."

"Mh..." Alec grasped his chin and leaned back, looking highly concentrated. "Jonathan Christoper Wayland... Maybe we can work with the initials? J.W.? Mouthful. J.C.?"

"Jay-cee," echoed Isabelle, drawing the letters out. "Jacey?"

"No, that sounds weird," argued Alec with a shake of his head. "But... What about Jace?"

"Jace? I... don't dislike that? Jace. Jace sounds good, I think."

Jace. He was Jace now. The way Alec lit up and grinned proudly at having figured out a good name for him made Jonathan – Jace – feel happy too. His soulmate had given him a name. Now he just needed a moment alone with Alec to talk to him about things, right? Maybe Alec hadn't said anything yet because Isabelle was there too. They should talk alone.

"Do you want to go spar with me after breakfast?" asked Jace, eager eyes on Alec.

Alec seemed startled for a moment. "Oh? Uh. Sure. Okay, we can do that."

/break\

Jace sounded like it fit the blonde boy much better than Jonathan, Alec decided as the two sparred. Jace was tricky, swift, strong. Cocky to boot, but Alec had gotten that impression yesterday already. While the two boys sparred, their daemons sat together, sniffing each other. The two seemed to get along well, which was a good sign and made Alec want to befriend Jace too. Because if Alec's daemon judged Jace's to be good, then Jace must be good too.

"Do you think we can talk?" asked Jace when they finished.

There had been a bunch of others in the training room, but now that they had moved to the locker room, they were alone. Alec wasn't really sure what Jace could want to talk to him about in private, considering that they didn't know each other, but his parents had asked him to keep an eye on Jace and by now, Alec was quite determined to do that. Besides, the two betas seemed to have hit it off, considering this morning and now the sparring session.

Alec pulled his shirt over his head and turned to Jace. "Sure, what do you wanna talk about?"

No answer. Alec stepped closer, frowning in confusion. Something had caught Jace's attention. Alec tried to follow his line of sight, just to land on his own chest. Ah, right. His soul-marks were completely covered when he was wearing a shirt, but in the middle of changing, it showed.

"Yeah, I know. It's rare to have two marks," Alec reached a hand up self-consciously, placing it on his Golden Retriever, with his thumb caressing the black panther. "But yeah, I have... two."

"That... That's..." Jace's voice sounded oddly dry.

"I keep wondering what my soulmates will be like," admitted Alec with a small smile, sitting down. "I had the black panther first. It's pretty... large and imposing, so I think they might be an alpha perhaps? Maybe like... Shadowhunter royalty, since they're super graceful, you know?"

"Y...Yeah," Jace nodded awkwardly, though his eyes were on the dog.

"I don't know about the Golden Retriever," continued Alec to fill the silence. "Considering I'm a beta, I would guess my soulmates had to be alpha and omega. Technically I guess the strong, fierce dog could also be the alpha? I don't know. But they feel... softer."

It was really hard to read Jace's expression. Alec didn't know what to do with that. But then from what Alec had heard, Jace and Michael had lived in total isolation. Considering his age, perhaps Jace hadn't gotten his own soul-mark yet, so maybe this was the first time Jace was seeing a soul-mark. That sure would explain his very off reaction.

"Are you... alright?" asked Alec softly after a beat. "Do you have a soul-mark yet?"

It took some time for Jace to reply and when he did, something sounded off. "No, no I don't."

"It's okay. I'm sure you'll get one soon," assured Alec with an encouraging smile.

/break\

Jace was dry-heaving, sitting in his bathroom. It was a nice bathroom. He hadn't thought this would be the first proper time he spent in this. But everything was just too much. His soulmate didn't recognize him, because the mark on Alec's body... the mark... A sob shook Jace's entire body.

"Are you... alright?" asked Celestina gently.

She wasn't stupid, she had noticed what was going on, she must know why he was currently feeling as though he was completely losing it. The soul-mark on Alec's chest wasn't Celestina. It was Aurea. His Aurea. When she had settled, the soul-marks must have formed. And his father cutting Aurea off from Jace hadn't changed the soul-mark. Alec and their third, they had a picture of Aurea on their bodies, even though she was gone. Jace didn't think she even still existed, but she was the only connection his soulmates had to him. And though Jace had come to love Celestina, right now, she stood between him and his soulmates. He didn't...

"Am I... I'm not... right," whispered Jace in a broken voice.

He rolled over to lean against the wall, curling together close. Celestina sat on the sink, her head tilted curiously as she watched him. Giving him the time to sort his thoughts and find his words.

"I'm not right," repeated Jace more firmly. "What... father did, I'm not right anymore. You're my daemon, but you're not on his body. He didn't... recognize you."

"He didn't," confirmed Celestina in a gentle voice.

"I'm not his soulmate anymore," concluded Jace after another moment, eyebrows drawn deep. "When father... cut Aurea out, he cut my connection to them out, didn't he?"

Celestina hopped closer to rub her head against his. "I'm sorry, Jace, but I don't know."

Well, Jace didn't know either but something inside him told him. He was wrong, something about him wasn't right. But then hadn't his father always told him that soulmates were a weakness anyway? His father had always said he'd be better off without a soulmate. These kind of bonds, they only tied someone down. His father talked the same way about the parabatai-bond, which probably explained why Jace had never met Robert Lightwood before.

/break\

"He seems weird," declared Isabelle. "That's not bad. I think he's cool. But still..."

"He's not weird," chided Alec seriously. "He's... traumatized, Izzy. Imagine if mom and dad were just gone and you didn't have me and Maxie either. If you were just... suddenly all alone."

And yes, Alec had spent a lot of time thinking about Jace, about everything concerning Jace. How isolated he had been for so long, how much seeing his father's murder must have traumatized him. Alec even thought about the bruises on the other boy. He'd seen them, after their sparring session. Older bruises, varying bruises. Alec had a pretty good hunch where they came from.

"Jace needs someone in his corner, Iz," Alec's voice was soft. "I... want to be in his corner."

"Me too!" Izzy nodded seriously. "He's one of us now, right?"

Alec's face softened as he nodded. Yes. Jace was now one of them. Alec was going to watch out for Jace, because the other beta had been through a lot. And who knew, maybe Jace was going to get a soul-mark soon and then there would be a soulmate out there who would also watch out for Jace and protect him. That sounded silly, didn't it? From their sparring session, he knew that Jace could stand his ground. He was a strong fighter. Still, Alec saw the suffering, saw a fraction of what Jace had been through and all Alec wanted was for someone to be there to protect Jace.

"I hope there's someone out there for him," whispered Alec beneath his breath.

"I'm sure there is," replied Minerva as the snow owl landed on his shoulder. "I'm sure of it."

His hand found its way up to his chest, subconsciously tapping against it. Somewhere out there was someone for Alec, two someones who would love him some day. Who would protect Alec as Alec would protect them. And he really, truly hoped that Jace would have someone like that too.

/break\

Jace was flat on his back on the grass outside behind the Institute. New York was really big. Alec and Izzy had shown him around a bit, but it was quite overwhelming. The Institute itself however, it was pretty amazing. Someone sat down next to him, Jace could hear the shifting on the other person's posture as they laid down. When Jace turned his head, sure enough there was Alec.

"Counting clouds?" guessed Alec, his arms crossed behind his head.

Jace closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply. Alec was a beta and betas didn't have as penetrating a scent as alphas or omegas, so Jace needed to be close to Alec, or alone with Alec, to get a full whiff of his scent. Like burned wood from a fireplace and the earthy scent of the woods.

"No. Just... There are so many people in the Institute. It became too much for me? I needed a little time for myself, so I... It's nice and calm out here."

"Mh..." Alec sat up. "Come with me. I can show you something."

That made Jace frown, but he still found himself following. They sneaked through the Institute, up the stairs toward a place he'd never been to before. Alec grinned at him impishly as he opened the door. This was a new side of Alec, Jace hadn't seen that yet. The door opened fully and Jace saw what was behind it – the roof. But there was a beautiful garden on it.

"Nearly nobody comes up here. Hodge started this garden, as a way to cope with his house-arrest, but even he only comes up here to water the plants regularly. No one else really cares about being up here. So... if you need some peace and quiet, you could come up here."

Wait, Alec had brought him up here to show him a refuge? A place for him to be alone? That was... That was so thoughtful. Jace just stared at Alec in surprise. He wasn't used to others being considerate to him, helping him. Both Celestina and Minerva were circling them overhead before they landed on the backrest of a bench. Alec nudged him and walked over to sit on the bench.

"I mean, only if you... don't mind the company. I can also leave."

"No," Jace shook his head. "No, I'm... Your company's fine."

Author's note: And I can finally stop referring to Jace as "Jonathan". Thank you, Alec. Also! May the angst commence! Next chapter, we're going to catch up to the show's beginning and to the entrance of one Magnus Bane into our Shadowhunters' lives