Alec and Clary

Chapter 17

A/N: I am honestly sorry for the delays. For some reason, I'm having a hard time writing this story. My other ones come along a lot easier. Of course I'm going to finish this one as best I can; but, any ideas are welcome and greatly appreciated.

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Alec POV

Alec's pretty blue eyes darkened to an almost black color as he watched his home erupt in flames. He felt Clary's presence beside him, and he guessed she must almost be as shocked as he was.

Was his family okay? That was the only thing going through his mind as the sickly smell of demons wafted to his nose. Alec couldn't handle it anymore; he had to get to his family.

His long legs carried him swiftly over the terrain; closer to Alicante. Closer to danger. Closer to the chance of death.

In the distance, he heard Clary swear under her breath and apply a speed rune to her arm. Soon, she caught up with him. The smell of smoke was slowly becoming more noticeable. When they were a couple of yards out of the entrance of the city, Alec stopped them both.

"Clary, you need to stay here." He looked her in the eye; he regretted not telling her about her true heritage, and this would only put her in more danger. She couldn't die.

Of course, Alec let himself go into subconscious denial that nobody he cared about would die. He was like that.

Clary's green eyes widened with disbelief. "What are you talking about? Of course I'm going in there with you!" She cast a worried glance at the fallen gates, allowing her fear to seep through her eyes. The fear wasn't for herself; it was for Alicante, Izzy, Magnus, Max, Simon, Maryse, Jace… Oh God, even Luke and Amatis.

"Clary, you. Are. Not. Going. In." He turned away from her, and, without one more look back, ran into the labyrinth of chaos and smoke that was once the beautiful city of Alicante.

Clary's POV:

Fear gripped her chest and made its way to her eyes, where they now stung with tears. Was he okay? What if he…what if he died?!

Clary, being the reckless girl she was, did exactly what she was told not to do. She ran in.

The first thing she noticed before being blinded momentarily by the thick smoke was the filthy stinch; it was blood, the sickly sweet smell of demons, grime, sweat, tears, and death. It was the most horrid thing anyone should ever have to smell.

While blinded, Clary bumped into a small figure. Looking down; she saw a small girl, that couldn't be any older than nine, look up at her with tear streaked eyes. There was a gash across her face which would probably leave a scar. The girl was a petite thing; with thick black hair and chocolate brown eyes.

At first, Clary was thinking about running away from the girl, she might be a demon. But demons didn't cry.

The little girl's voice choked out, "P-please, my orphanage was attacked; I, I can't figure out how to get away."

Clary had two options; One, be selfish, and get out of there. Or two; help the little girl. The thing was, if Clary helped her, she had a feeling she'd be stuck with her forever.

The girls brown eyes looked up at her, and Clary let out a sigh. "Follow me." She grabbed a hold of her hand and led her out.

"But- I already tried that way! We can't get out!" She exclaimed. Clary decided to try it anyway, and, as the girl said, she couldn't get past the invisible barrier. It was if a massive force of air stopped her from getting outside, and every time she drove toward it, it took the air out of her lungs as though the breathed in water.

"Fuck." The redhead spat, not caring whose company she had. The girl obviously seemed unaffected by her language. Sighing, Clary turned around. The only way the innocent little kid was going to stay alive was if Clary dragged her along. "Follow me." Clary flipped her trademark red hair out of her face and trained her startlingly green eyes around in the smoke. She could barely see anything. Flitting her piercing gaze one more time down to the little girl, she grabbed a hold of the girl's tiny hand and ran farther into the pit of chaos.

Of course, Clary was Clary, and she went in without any plan whatsoever. The little girl seemed worried, but decided to shut her mouth, because she couldn't really do much better.

She checked on the little girl one more time; great. She was already starting to feel attached. "What's your name?" Said Clary.

"Gwen." Said the little girl. Gwen looked worryingly around; this redhead was indeed a tactless one, she thought to herself. "What's your name?"

"Clary. Clary Fray." Looking down at Gwen one more time, she reassuringly squeezed her little tan hand with her pale one and inspected the sight around her.

The demons seemed to have cleared this spot temporarily. The corpses or shadowhunters littered the streets, and Clary looked at Gwen one more time. She was already proud of the little girl, keeping it together in a time like this.

Clary looked around one more time; there was smoke coming out of the houses and a couple of fires lit dried grass, but other than that, everything seemed completely vacant.

She was worried about being noticed; Clary had her red hair and was afraid of someone being able to see it in the smoke. At least Gwen was safer with her darker hair, which was momentarily dirtied with ash.

There was a half burnt wood sign that was slowly deteriorating to the ground, and Clary rushed forward to look at it before she became completely lost. She dragged little Gwen along with her; she was not letting go of this little girl for fear that a filthy demon would snatch her away. Clary could only imagine the terrible deeds that demons where capable of; how in the hell did they even get past the wards?!

The street sign was halfway burnt through; but Clary recognized it from her tour of Alicante with Alec. The Penhallow's mansions wasn't far from here.

Turning left, she took off. But, halfway there, Gwen stopped her. Clary looked down with annoyance. "What?" She was not in the mood for anymore disturbances; she wanted to get to Alec. If- If anything happened to him… Oh God…

"Clary, we don't have any weapons." Gwen's chocolate brown eyes looked up at her, shining with intelligence. Clary slowly came to realization and stood there dumbfounded.

"Oh. Oh. Um… I knew that." Clary momentarily let go of Gwen's hand and pressed the silver bracelet Izzy and Magnus had bought her. It slowly turned into a quiver of full arrows and an elegant bow that curved perfectly for her hands.

She knew this wouldn't do, though. They both needed weapons for upfront attacks. Swallowing the sickly feeling in her stomach, she beckoned Gwen to follow her. "Do not leave my side." Walking bravely over to one of the corpses, she shakily drew a blade from their cold, grimy fingers, forcing herself not to look at their eyes.

The blade was still warm and buzzing in her hand; something that seemed familiar, at least a little. But she wasn't done yet.

Clary walked over to another corpse. This one was a girl who couldn't have been much older than sixteen; but that didn't matter to the redhead. All that mattered was prying the small dagger from her hand to give to Gwen.

When she handed the weapon to her, Gwen looked up at her with confusion. "I don't know how to use this."

"Neither do I." Clary snorted. "But, it's better than nothing. Besides, in the end, bravery is what counts the most. I think you and me put together have plenty of it." She reassured the little girl, and Gwen gave her a small, shaky smile. It warmed Clary's heart, giving her more hope in finding Alec and the rest of her friends.

A couple streets later; Clary and Gwen found themselves at the Penhallows' door. Clary was about to barge in when Gwen, again, stopped her. The little girl shook her dark head and motioned towards the back of the house. "I don't have a good feeling about it. It might be a trap." She explained, speaking as softly as possible.

"Lead the way, mini-genius." Gwen giggled at the new nickname. Clary walked as silently as she could around back, and they stopped at a large window where you could see into the large living room. There where bushes under it, so they could take cover if they needed to.

Clary notched an arrow on her bowstring, just in case, and drew it. Gwen tightened her hand around her little dagger, swallowing hard. Clary momentarily looked down at Gwen's fingers to see if she was holding the it right; fortunately, she was.

Clary was tall enough to see in, but Gwen had to stand on her tippy toes and step on a large rock. She looked over at her to make sure she would be okay, and the little girl nodded.

The redhead's bright green eyes peeped over the window cill, and again she cursed her coloring. Here she was, pale as moonlight, with her red hair and bright green eyes. Very helpful.

She had to stifle a gasp at what she saw. Alec, Maryse, Izzy, Jace, Magnus, Max, Simon, Luke, and Robert where all tied up. Everyone except Alec looked as though they had been there for a while, and Alec's blue eyes burned with ferocity as his mouth pulled into a feral snarl. Magnus' and Jace's expression's weren't much better, but Alec's was by far the worst.

Wait. Nope. Izzy had them all beat, hands down. Even the white haired man that seemed to be in charge of everything shrank under her gaze.

The boy whom she thought was Sebastian no longer looked anything like himself. He had light blond hair, which, oddingly, seemed to be much more natural than his black locks.

Clary bent back down and drew out her stele, drawing a rune to help her hear better. Judging by Gwen's arms, the little girl hadn't yet pertained a rune yet, so Clary whispered for her to watch her back while she listened in.

"Well,well." Started the oldest man, who resembled Sebastian greatly, but Sebastian's features where slightly more soft, more elegant. "I was expecting more from you, Alec Lightwood. You were supposed to be one of the cleverest shadowhunters of your time." He paused, looking over them all. "Actually, all of you where disappointments. Barely putting up a fight. Now your going to be used as bait." At this, he gave a cruel, evil smile that made someone's back shiver and their heart stop as though a cold metal object sliced through it.

"Bait for what, Valentine?" Magnus snarled. Clary could see that he was trying to burn through the ropes with his magic, but the ropes must have been enchanted. He was only awarded with burnt figers.

"Alexander," Valentine's smile grew wider, "Would you like to explain?"

Alec's blue eyes widened a bit, but he quickly turned his facial expression still, giving away nothing. All eyes turned to him, but he cleared his throat. "H-how did you know that I hold knowledge of this unfortunate mistake?"

Valentine barked out a laugh. "Unfortunate mistake? It was no mistake, Lightwood." He spat. "Maybe if you don't want to explain that, you could explain the activities that you did with my daughter."

Izzy turned toward her brother. "You cheated on Clary?!"

Alec looked at her as though she where crazy, but Clary's mind was reeling. She was so confused, that is until Valentine laughed again. "Oh, no. He didn't cheat on Clary; if anything I think he pleasured her."

It took a minute for everyone to digest this, but when they did, Jace exclaimed, "You're lying!" His golden eyes flickered to an almost white-gold color.

Alec sunk his head in defeat. "Alec, you knew about this?!" He didn't answer.

Clary was shocked. How could he? How could he lie to her? Just… how?!

"Jonathan, don't blame your friend for everything. He didn't even know everything."

"What do you mean?" Said Jace. He looked as though he was about to scream, but Valentine went on as though he were bored, as if he had more important things to do.

"He didn't know I had another child. Other than Jonathan number one." His cruel black eyes met with Jace's. "He didn't know that there was another Jonathan that was a son of Valentine."

Jace's beautiful face paled as he realized everything. Clary could see his eyes flicker back and forth, putting the pieces together in his head. "No…" This came out as more of a whisper, hoarse and barely hearable. "No!"

She felt as though she where intruding on a private scene, something that she shouldn't be watching. But she couldn't take her eyes off of it.

That was when Izzy made eye contact with her. Her pretty black eyes widened and her mouth nearly fell open, but she managed to keep her wits. Her breathing fastened a bit but other than that she kept her mouth in a firm line.

Clary's startlingly green eyes motioned over to where Alec was, and she brought a finger to her lips. Izzy's gaze traveled over to where Gwen was, and one of her eyebrows went up a bit in question, but Clary shook her head, meaning that it wasn't time for that.

Thank the Angel that Valentine was preoccupied in making Jace having a panic attack. Wait. That came out wrong, but she didn't care at the moment.

Izzy lightly bumped shoulder's with Alec, nodding her head ever so slightly towards the window. His brilliant blue eyes met Clary's gaze and he his posture immediately straightened, senses more alert. A vein pulsed on his pale neck as he bit his tongue.

Clary brought her finger to her lips again. Meanwhile, Alec almost looked furious with her, but she chose to ignore it for now. That wasn't her number one priority.

She had to come up with a plan; something smart. Something that, for once, wasn't reckless. Clary had lots of intelligence; she was simply one of those rare people who chose to act on impulse and instinct rather than rely on her brain.

Thinking for a moment, a rune suddenly popped in her head, like waves crashing on a beach. She grinned like a madwoman, and Alec looked at her frightened, as if saying, No, By the Angel no, this is not going to go down well.

Gwen looked at her curiously for a moment, but Gwen was a very trusting person, so she followed Clary when she crawled towards a tree a couple of yards away.

Clary took out her stele, holding it like an artist's tool, and drew a straight line on her forearm first, then added a mix of intricate lines with a little star looking thing on the top.

She did the same thing with the tree, just at its base. Gwen watched in amazement as the tree slowly molded into a person looking thing, and finally had the willowy, lean figure of Clary Fray.

It was identical; the only thing was the eyes. It didn't have Clary's bright, emerald spark, even though the color appeared exactly the same. Gwen looked up at Clary. "Is she smart? I mean; does she operate correctly?"

Clary grinned. "I guess we'll find out." Turning towards the thing, whatever you call it, Clary spoke. "Sit down."

It sat down, with, Clary noticed, much more grace and elegance she actually had. Oh well, it would do. "Okay. I need you to go in there and distract the two white haired men. Don't let them catch you, but run as far away as possible and keep them there as long as you can. Don't die. And, don't make eye contact too long."

Clary number two nodded. "Anything else, my lady?"

"Oooh, my lady, I like it! I'm a lady!" Clary exclaimed, but at Gwen's raised eyebrow, Clary shook her head and went to a more serious note. "Nothing else. Whatever you do, keep them away from us."

It nodded and quickly went around the house until it was out of sight. Clary and Gwen silently scuttled over to their original spot, and Gwen scrambled up the wrong, cursing a little as her knee got scraped. Clary mentally told herself to help her with that later.

Two pairs of eyes; one brown, one green, peeped over the window once again. This time, no one saw them, because everyone was looking at the figure in the doorway.

"Clary, how could you be so stupid?" Maryse spluttered. Robert's face was very red. The copy of Clary made its way into the living room, smiling, before taking off with inhuman speed down the hall and out of the door.

Valentine and Sebastian followed immediately after, and Clary and Gwen pressed themselves against the wall to be better hidden. The tiny rocks that where slowly coming off dug into both of their backs and caused the new scratches to bleed a little bit; but they stayed still against the cold rock until the two men were out of sight.

Clary let out a sigh, and grabbed little Gwen's hand, scurrying up the steps and nearly tripping on the way into the house. Thank the Angel they hadn't decided to lock it.

"Honey, I'm home!" Clary smiled brightly as she looked at all of their dumbstruck faces, and Gwen giggled. Everyone's eyes momentarily looked at the adorable little Latino girl, (Max's stayed a bit longer) and Alec looked as though he were about to faint. The same went for Magnus. Jace looked as though he were still recovering from his panic attack, while Simon, Izzy, Maryse, and Robert eyed her with respect.

"CLARISSA ADELE FRAY WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WE ARE GOING TO BE DISCUSSING THIS YOUND LADY DO YOU UNDERSTAN ME?!" Alec yelled. He couldn't take his eyes off of Clary as she smiled as if he were the greatest person in the world, which, in her mind, he was.

Luke interjected, finally. "Clary, dear, can you please get us out of these ropes, please?"

She nodded and asked Gwen for the dagger, which Gwen gratefully gave up. Clary started on Magnus' first, since he could help break the others, considering the enchantment only worked from the inside.

In a couple of minutes, everyone was cut free. As soon as Alec's hands where released from the rope, he stormed up to Clary and pressed his mouth to hers with bruising force as he swept her into a bone crushing hug. He didn't want to let her go, and she didn't want him to either, but he was cutting off her air supply.

"Alec…Cant… breathe…" Alec reluctantly let her go, but then he almost pushed her away as his face flushed hotly with anger. "Clary- why- why in the hell!" He sputtered. Clary calmly kissed his neck, which calmed him down immediately. His shoulders became relaxed as he pulled her into a gentler hug. "Thank you, but I had it perfectly handled."

Clary snorted at that. "Yea, sure you did." She tilted her face up slightly to press her lips to his. They were soft and warm and comforting; she would never get bored of them.

Someone behind them cleared their throat, and they broke away. Maryse stood there tall and confident. "Sorry to break up your little reunion, but we have to get going."

Luke came up behind her and hugged Clary quickly before letting go and crouching down to get on eye level with Gwen. "And what's your name, miss?"

"Gwen." She said. Clary wondered if the girl even knew her last name. She remembered that Gwen said something about an orphanage.

Izzy crouched next to Luke, eyeing the little girl. "Do you know your last name? How did you meet Clary?" Asked Izzy.

Clary interrupted. "When I came through, I bumped into her. Her orphanage had been rampaged by demons. We helped each other live." She smiled down at Gwen. The little girl gave a shy smile at Izzy.

Suddenly, the Lightwood girl smiled so brightly it almost hurt to look at her. "Mom, can we keep her?"

"No, I found her first!" Laughed the redhead. "I've always wanted a sister!"

"So have I!"

Robert cut in, glancing worriedly towards the half-working clock. "You can share her, but guys, we have to get out of here." Clary and Magnus nodded at the same time. After a staring contest, which Clary won, she walked quickly to the biggest wall she could find and drew out her stele.

As soon as the portal started to shimmer and fill with blue water, a stomping of boots interrupted her. There stood Sebastian and Valentine, grinning wildly like madmen.

"Clarissa. How nice it is to see you. Come; give your father and brother a hug." Even as he said this, he showed no intention of hugging her as he yanked Jace away from the group. "Jace, oh, dear Jace. We could rule the world. You can have your sister. Nothing could stop us." Valentine said, but there was something odd about his voice; as though someone applied an extra coat of paint to it.

Jace's golden eyes glazed over. He walked evidently over to Valentine and stood beside him. Meanwhile, Alec was furious. He knew Jace would have never went that far; no, the only reason Jace obeyed Valentine was because of the newly etched persuading rune on Valentine's pale arm.

Alec grabbed Clary as Izzy and Simon and Max went for little Gwen. Maryse stood her ground while Magnus slowly made his way towards Clary and her boyfriend.

"Going away so quickly, are we?" Sebastian said. It was the first time Clary heard him speak; but she could see by the dark glances he shot his father, no, their father that he loathed the man with a burning passion.

Alec's grip on Clary's waist grew tighter, and Magnus held her other hand. The warlock's magic seeped through her veins and made her senses slightly more alert; they would all have to jump through at just the right moment, and so far, Maryse, Robert, Luke, and Jace were still far away from them. Clary silently cursed herself for wasting any second of time; they could have been gone by now.

The three blonde men swung their blades expertly. Jace's movements seemed force, and Clary honestly wanted to help him.

Izzy and Simon had reached them by now; as had Gwen and Max. The adults had stood their ground, waiting for Valentine to make his move.

As Clary was hoping someone had an actual destination in their heads, since Jace was apparently the only one experienced with portals, Sebastian moved towards them with inhuman speed, only to be tackled by Luke.

Magnus reflexively pulled Clary's hand and Alec followed after, along with Simon, Izzy, Gwen, and Max. The redhead had no idea where they were going; no one. So they were either going to end up in oblivion or get dropped off in the middle of nowhere.

Before she got swept into the portal, Clary desperately screamed, "Luke! Dad!" Her hand momentarily let go of Magnus' in hope to reach Luke's, but to no avail. They were thrown into the portal completely, and the figures Clary saw slowly turned from blurry to invisible.

Lost in her state of panic, she wasn't ready for landing on the hard forest floor. "Umph." She complained, getting up and rubbing her thigh.

She saw Izzy run towards Alec, and the two embraced as they realized both of their parents where either dead or going to be tortured and held hostage. Simon and Magnus came towards Clary and hugged her, comforting her about the highly possible loss of Luke. Max somehow made his way into the Lightwood's circle as Gwen came up and patted Clary on the shoulder.

"Where are we?" Gwen asked. Alec broke away and looked at them harshly; that was his flaw. When he lost someone he loved, he was cruel, and cold, and heartless.

"Ask her." He jutted his head towards Clary. She broke away and wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"I don't know where we are, I had nothing to do with-"

"Oh, yes, you did. You just had to waste time, and you had to save the whole goddamn world! You know, I can see how you and Jace are related now!" He shouted. Slowly, tears made their way down his beautiful face. Clary didn't notice though, her vision was slowly turning red.

"Excuse me?! I saved your ungrateful little ass! It's better than saving no one!"

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT! I SPECIFACALLY TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE! AND WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU CAME IN RIGHT BEHIND ME! AND NOW, IN THE END, MY MOTHER AND FATHER IS PROBABLY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR PHSYCOPATH FAMILY!"

"You didn't even tell me who my family was! You kept it from me! I had nothing to do with it!"

"WELL MAYBE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF YOU AND YOUR LITTLE FRIEND DIDN'T SAUNTER INTO PANDENIONIOM THAT NIGHT. MAYB E IT WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF WE HAD NEVER MET!"

This made Clary stop. The world stopped, the red faded from her vision and Alec's figure turned blurry from the tears in her eyes. What he said went too far.

So this is what a broken heart feels like. As if the world where in slow motion, she pushed past him and dashed for the woods. The loss of Luke, the loss of Maryse, the likely loss of Jocelyn; it was all too much. She needed to get away.

Clary lid over a rock and winced as she felt something be pulled; hopefully her ankle was just bruised. She kept running, though. Even when a branch out of nowhere hit her in the eye and as blood trickled down her forehead. She just had to get away. Maybe he was right. Maybe she never should have gotten into the shadowhunting world.

Funny, really, how her fear hadn't made her want to run away. It made things more real, it made things clearer. It also made things uglier, since reality itself was ugly.

The dark greens and browns and grays of the unknown forest swept by her, and finally she stumbled across a stream. Unfortunately, she literally fell in it. But the cold, clear water felt good for a second until it stung and made its way into her bones, causing her to quickly pull out of it and sit near the bank.

It all came crashing down again. Luke. Maryse. Jocelyn. Even Jace. Alec was right. This was all her fault. Everything. And she believed she deserved it all.

Almost unconsciously, she let out a scream. A deep, agonizing scream, before choking up on it and trying to catch her breath in the fits of sobs.

She found that it she laid down on her side that it wasn't as bad. Her sobs slowly turned into silent tears as she turned on her back and stared at the moon, faintly wandering if Alec was looking at the same time she was.

Alec's POV:

His vision was red as he screamed at Clary. Somewhere in the back of his mind; he knew he shouldn't be doing this. He knew he shouldn't be hurting the one he loved. But that didn't stop him, as if some dormant part of Alec was woken up and relishing in power, screaming at Clary against his will. He didn't know what he was doing, that is, until the world stopped. When everyone looked at him in horror, but the one that hurt most was Clary's tear streaked eyes as her lips that he had become so familiar with fell open. As her once bright shining eyes where only lit by her tears.

When he finally realized what he said, Clary was already gone. Her red hair was disappearing into the forest, and in his peripheral vision he saw little Gwen try in run after her, only to be stopped by Simon.

He was awakened by his gaze by a sharp pain on his face. Slowly, he reached up his hand and felt his hot cheek. It didn't hurt though, for now he was numb.

He turned to see Magnus glaring at him, his green-gold eyes shining viciously like a panthers. "What in the hell have you done?!" Magnus shouted.

Alec could only respond with. "I…I don't know…"

"You don't know?! Lightwood, I made you promise you wouldn't hurt her! Look what you've done! She tried her best; she did what shadowhunters wanted her to do! Did you not see that she tried to reach out of the portal for them?! Or did that escape your line of sight?!"

Alec only hung his dark head down in surrender; yes, he had seen that. He saw it as clear as day.

"I'm sorry. I… I really do love her…" Alec shoved his head in his hands, but Magnus didn't show any mercy.

"Yeah, it sure as hell looks like it. You'll be lucky if she ever talks to you agai-" The warlock was interrupted by a scream, far off in the distance, at least a couple of miles. And for Alec, the scream was all too familiar.

"Clary…" The name came out as a hoarse whisper, desperate even. Izzy looked at Simon. She was Clary's only female friend; and Clary was her only friend, too. "Simon, you know her. What do we do?"

Simon thought for a moment, worried about his best friend. "Leave her for a little and see if she comes back. If she doesn't come back by night time, then, we need to look for her. Clary gets really emotional when she's alone; and certain circumstances aren't going to help it." Simon's brown eyes flickered over to Alec, and Alec looked away quickly.

Gwen looked at the forest; only knowing Clary for a day, she had already counted her as her hero. "She'll come back, right?" The nine year old asked. No one said anything, until Max piped up,

"Of course she will. She's Clary." Said Max.

Clary, he thought, my Clary. Me paenitet. Te amo. Ad minim veniam.

I'm sorry. I love you. Please come back.

And with that, Alexander Gideon Lightwood fell asleep looking up at the moon.

A/N: I'm truly sorry for the delay. On the bright side, exams are over! Yay! But I hope you like this chapter. It's the first time ive ever made a character. Do you like Gwen?

But yea, anyway, review, please. And don't worry, Alec and Clary will make up in the next chapter.

Maybe.

Well, if they do, im warning you that there will be mature content.

Review : )