Chapter Text
Present
He knew for sure that this was only supposed to be a simple hunt for shapeshifters dealing in mundane blood. It was supposed to be simple, therefore they shouldn’t have bumped into the weird tiny red-haired girl who lit up a seraph blade, damn it! Now Jace got into his head that he had to investigate her because really, they didn’t need this right now, not when the three of them were walking on thin ice with mom and dad. Alec so did not want to be put on ichor duty or actual demotion because he was being dragged along into his siblings harebrained schemes.
He was going to be the one to answer their parents not Izzy or Jace. As he sat down to make his report of the hunt and then prepare for his patrol, he prayed Jace did not do something stupid involving that not-mundane mundane girl. She could go and be another institute’s problem, he had enough of them here as it is.
--
His prayed were unanswered, as they always were when they included his siblings. Of course, Jace had the spectacular idea of bringing the girl to the Institute. Go Jace! And not only that but he also apparently runed her, Jace what the fuck? Alec heaved a deep sigh, seriously dealing with all their shenanigans, he felt like a 61-year-old rather than 21.
“And by ‘taken’ I assume you mean ‘saved your life’” he heard Izzy say to the girl.
“She shouldn’t be here, she’s mundane. What were you even thinking, Jace?” he quipped in
“Where is ‘here’ exactly?” he tuned out the latest nuisance. “She’s not mundane.” Was Jace’s haughty reply and he wanted to punch his perfect teeth out. “How do you know that for sure?” he knew she’s not mundane, not when the seraph blade lit up in her hands. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t bitch about this development. This girl was going to turn their world and not for the best, he could feel it in his bones; something was coming, and it was bad. So, while there’s time, he was going to be his best bitchy self, his siblings would just have to deal as he dealt with them every day.
“Because the seraph blade lit up when she touched it.” Oh, Jace was still talking. “Izzy, can you...” he gestured her to empty the seat for him and introduced himself.
“I am Jace Wayland”
“I’m uh—” “Clary Fray, we know who you are” his parabatai was an idiot. He was changing his contact’s name to Parabaidiot.
“Neither of you find anything unusual about this situation and this girl?” “You find everything unusual, Alec”
“And for good reason, the girl reeks of trouble, Jace. I am going to have to report to the Clave. And then call our parents to deal with you both, because everything I am saying seems to be going right over your heads.”
“What?! Alec, come on!”
“Walk with me, big brother and let’s just give him a minute with Clary.” Izzy pulled him along with out of the room, diffusing the situation. He didn’t pull away and let her lead him towards the ops and away, Hodge was right, he was way too soft on his siblings.
“We don’t know this girl.” But he did know that something about her was off, that was setting off alarms in his head. Her presence left a bad tingle in his bones even the air around her left a feeling of wrongness on his skin, a slight sensation of burning except there was none. Something was coming, and it was going to be bad. Instantly he felt his hand numb, sweat break out, his breath shortening, and the trembles began. He began losing his vision, yet he saw. He saw
--
Isabelle’s hands tightened around his biceps as she noticed the change in her brother’s breathing pattern, she turned immediately facing him, both hands now on his arms. And she saw sheen of sweat forming on his face, his palms trembling, his whole body too. Then she saw his eyes, white. Gone were the bright blues replaced completely with the white. Suddenly his entire weight was on her, bringing both on their knees. She swore under her breath, her eyes darting around the centre, finding it mostly empty and a few whose attention was completely away. Thank the angel.
Her attention went back to her brother. This had never happened before. What was happening even? “Alec?” she whispered in his ears, “Alec, can you hear me? Move your right hand if you can, please”
She was getting scared now. Her throat tightened and her eyes watered. And just like that, he was back, gasping for breath and trembling horribly. Oh Gods, what just happened!
She had helped him sit down from how he was kneeling and sat down in front of him, his eyes were on the floor, teary and blue. Her hands on his face wiping away the sweat and tears. His eyes immediately snapped to hers’ and whispered her name, “Izzy… room” She understood at once what he wanted. Helping him stand and taking most of his weight on her, she began walking as fast as she could afford to with twice the weight on her.
--
She locked the door to Alec’s room behind her, watching her brother slowly sit down on his bed and curl up as though in much pain. “Alec, what just happened out there?” she perched herself on the edge of the bed, patiently waiting as her brother gathered himself and brought his ragged breathing back under control.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, thoughts of Jace and his newfound interest, Clary far away form their minds.
“Isabelle” the sound of her full name jerked her to attention. Unless Alec was completely serious, he never used any of his siblings’ full name. “Hey there, big brother” her one hand on the bed and the other settled on his shoulder, he was laying sideways, facing her. His eyes wide and disturbed. He took a deep breath, as though readying himself.
“I saw, Izzy. I saw something.” And just for a second, every single function inside her body stopped for a second. “Saw what? Like a vision? Of future?” she’s read accounts of the warlocks inducing prophetic visions through their magic, of natural-born seers and prophets. Some, very rarely, nephilims too. But her brother isn’t one. She is sure he isn’t because that would mean having them throughout his childhood and life. This is the first time it has happened. Right?
“Izzy, listen to me carefully. Please.” She nodded instantly, this was big and too important. They had to get to the bottom of this. “I-never—”
“Alec, it’s okay, take your time. I’m here.” He nodded and tried again.
“Izz, all week I have been feeling off. Like something was wrong but just not yet. Like it was about to go wrong…”
“I noticed; you were quieter than you usually are.” He nodded “Yeah, it was like I was feeling it in my bones and the air here.” Her brows may as well as be one with her hairline. Just what?
“And at the club on our mission, there was this prickling sensation in the back of my mind that send said, now, now, now.”
“Alec, did the girl’s presence do this to you? Is she what you saw just now?” She was going remove her from the living world, Jace’s weird interest be damned.
“Yes, it was her presence. But not the one I—I just saw, no.” Alright, maybe she would only detain her.
“Alec, what exactly did you see? Please, tell me.” He nodded his head; his hands shook as though afraid. “Izzy, it was fucking horrible.” Woah- did Alec just swear?
“I saw this tall white-haired man, a Shadowhunter and Izzy, I saw him raise the Angel and—and I saw Jace, dead on the ground, this same man sending over him and this girl was there too, sobbing on her knees.”
It was someone had pulled the very ground from beneath her feet. “What?” her voice breathy and terrified. “What does this mean, Alec?”
“I don’t know, Izz, I don’t know! I just know that this girl is the catalyst, she will lead us there.” She stood up immediately, wanting to rush to the infirmary and physically take the girl and throw her out. Alec grabbed her before she could storm out and she turned to him with a sharp look. But Alec shook his head, “No, you can’t throw her out. I—I, look I saw the three mortal instruments too, she leads us to them, how I don’t know but Izzy, we can’t throw her out because if we do, I feel—no I know for sure, something even worse is going to happen to us, to our world. This is a warning of what’s coming and that it must be stopped.”
Past
She was 17 years old, Maryse Trueblood. One of first generations of women being trained for frontline combats. She was 17 years old and one of the best female fighters already and his eyes kept drifting off to find her. She was a Nephilim, and he was a Warlock. How could he even entertain the thought of her being with him, even looking his way with something like love in her eyes.
She was beautiful and strong, heiress to a disgraced Nephilim family with no allies in the academy except that Lightwood heir and his parabatai yet she walked with her head held high, daring anyone to try and make her bend in shame. And he kept falling. He really shouldn’t, him a warlock child of a greater demon, merely 70 years away from being a thousand years old and she was just 17, Nephilim. In what world would they even be possibly.
--
Max Trueblood, her older brother and a parent to her, whom she loved so dearly ran away with a mundane man renouncing his heritage and blood, renouncing her, and leaving her behind to pick up the shattered pieces of her family name, her parents’ pride and her heart. Her spine became steel, her heart to stone, unbending and cold. All alone in the academy, nobody except Robert and Michael wanting to associate with her on the fact that her brother was deserter and her loyalty to the divine duty and the clave was now questionable.
She knew she would have to work far harder than anyone else here to establish herself and her family back. She had to train harder, study harder and fight harder, be better to show them that she was a loyal soldier, a worthy ally, that Truebloods were still strong that the heiress alone was enough to carry the weight and power of the name she was born with. She knew this, understood it every time her parents instilled it in her brain.
She had to do better than her brother, be a better Nephilim, better Shadowhunter. Yet
Yet
Her eyes strayed from the path that had been laid down for her ever since the loss of her brother. They strayed and strayed, always to him.
Ragnor Fell, her teacher and instructor. A Warlock.
Her eyes and her heart strayed, looking at him, trying to catch any glimpse of him she could. Always, she found herself looking at him, the way he looked teaching them, the way he proudly and defiantly wore his marks, the way how in deep concentration his hands sparkled of magic; a magic that should disgust her and terrify her yet it was fascination that she felt seeing those hands, a desire of wanting to know how those hands would feel on her skin, how it would feel to feel that shimmering magic dancing around his fingers on her skin.
Nephilims truly loved once. She knew that and she should stop herself before she was in too deep before she destroyed herself with the fantasies of him ever loving her like she was on her way to loving him. Why ever would he look at her, a child compared to him.
Robert, Michael and Maryse.
They sat in the long hall of the academy, eating their lunches, chatter of other students drowning out the echoing silence she has felt within her soul ever since her brother left and her parents turned into the ice-cold shells of themselves.
Robert and Michael parabatais, two people who had looked at her and seen her as herself and accepted into their worlds. They sat together as they had ever since become friends. Michael was talking about the classes and the training while she and Robert listened on, chiming in here and there, neither of them were big on talking and usually let Michael fill in their silenced thoughts and feelings with his words. ‘Maryse, you like our teacher, don’t you?’
Both her and Robert choked on their breads. Michael was only so blunt when he was extremely serious. She sucked desperately on air and went to diffuse his suspicions but instead Robert chimed in with the question, ‘Really? Which one you are talking about?’
‘What?! No, I don’t like any of our teachers!’ Hopefully, she said it convincingly enough to stop any further questions. ‘Yes, you do. Don’t think I didn’t notice how your eyes keeping him every time he’s in the room and how you literally undress him with your eyes, drooling at him. I am surprised he hasn’t caught you yet.’ OH, MY ANGEL, Michael!! Look on her face must have been truly comical that it had Robert to laugh out loud.
‘Wish I had a mirror right now. Your face!’ Robert cackled, pushing away his tray of food to lean closer on table with a wide grin. ‘Please, now you must tell who has caught your attention.’
“Would you do the honors of naming your little crush or I should, Mary-mine?” by the angel, did that nickname always leave her heart a little messed up, it meant so much to her, it signified her bonds to these boys, that they were truly friends, they were close, her brothers.
“Michael, parabatai, it seems to me that Mary here won’t be telling naming the guy. So please, don’t keep me waiting and tell me his name.” Robert had his very rare mischievous grin that Michael’s. she banged her head on the table, knowing she’s caught. Damn Michael observation skills, they were totally unnecessary being used on her.
She blurted out his name before Michael. “Ragnor Fell!”
She saw Robert’s brows shoot up in surprise and Michael wearing a very satisfied grin. “Our centuries old warlock teacher, Ragnor Fell? Mary?” Robert’s tone was incredulous, and she just nodded as did Michael.
He turned to Michael and asked, “when did you find out?” still very surprised. “A few days ago, I kept noticing how she snapped to attention every time he was around, even briefly. Then today confirmed it when she kept having these little sighs around him and did the very thorough check of him from top to bottom.” Wow, he sounded to so smug and proud of himself that she felt like punching him to next Tuesday.
“I hate you so much right now. And it’s just a crush.”
“We didn’t say anything but.” Robert chimed, and she huffed... busted.
“Okay, so maybe I like him a little!” the two halves of an idiot nodded together. Both suddenly becoming serious, “Yes, and I truly don’t care if he’s a warlock or not, just that he’s not some stuck up asshole.” Michael said and Robert nodded in agreement. And that lifted an unknown weight from her shoulders. Oh, she could cry, they didn’t immediately object or feel disgusted.
Robert spoke breaking her out of her thoughts, “We don’t care if he is a warlock, but others will, your parents will, Maryse. We would always be there for you if you decided to pursue your feelings but be careful. Be very careful, Maryse. The Clave has had many missions go wrong for those who diverged.”
“No, I am not going to do anything, Rob. It’s just a crush, that’s it.” And it felt like a lie. She held each of their hands and held them tight in her hands. It was just a crush, nothing else. It can be nothing more.
Present
Jace looked through her sketchbook, as Clary talked to some mundane friend of her who also apparently track her here.
“Um- What happened to my clothes?” she asked and Jace pointed to clothes Izzy left her, “Demon venom got on them. Isabelle left you these.”
“You’re kidding, right?” she asked incredulously as she shook a boot in her hand which was amusing. “She’s comfortable with her body, Isabelle.”
“Okay” Clary muttered, still weirded out with the clothes but still made to change. Jace pointed towards the bathroom for her to use.
“How did that get on my neck?!” she came storming back out a few minutes, angrily pointing to her neck. “Oh, I drew that.” To save her life of course and to check if his suspicions were right. But looking back on that and from Alec’s perspective, it was freaking risky, and he shouldn’t probably do that again. Yup
“You can’t just tattoo my neck! That’s so creepy!”
He rolled his eyes, “Sure, next time, I’ll just let you die. And besides, that’s not a tattoo, it’s a rune. Enormously powerful, good for Shadowhunter’s, lethal for humans. But you, you already knew about runes, didn’t you?” he gestured to her sketchbook but the look on her face had him thinking twice about his early assumptions. “Maybe you don’t… and that makes you so interesting, Clary Fray.”
He walked off before she could reply and picked up his phone to text his siblings. “Look, I need to see Simon! He’s out there-““Sure, let’s see your friend and the one who followed him here, shall we?” he gestured towards the door and let the girl walk out first and grabbed his seraph blade, activating it. “You’re not going to kill Simon, are you?” she asked staring at the blade dubiously. “No, it’s protect humans, kill demons not kill humans and protect demons. You’ll get it eventually”
“Wait, why can’t he see?” she asked as they stepped out of the Institute. He lifted his shirt and pointed to a rune, “It’s a glamour, a rune that makes me invisible to mundanes like him, which is a shame because...” he gestured to himself with a smug smile, “denying them all this.” He catches her rolling his eyes as though she didn’t check him out when they were inside.
--
Damn it, he just brought another mundane to the institute. Alec was going to have his ass on ichor duty
“Clary, is there a war going on that I don’t know about?” he heard the mundane, Simon mutter to Clary beside him.
“There is now.” He fought of a smirk.