A/N: Hi, guys! Just a little something that has been sitting unfinished in my pen drive forever. Now that I finished it, it ended up a little shorter than I originally intended, but I don't think I should add anything else.

It is technically a prequel to my other story, "Here's to Hoping (Tomorrow Will be Kinder)", but they can stand as separate pieces. On AO3 they also stand separately, but under the "Here's to Hoping" series.

I also published this fic on AO3 (username: MidnightHalo27)

This fic is canon compliant with The Bronze Key, so there are spoilers for those who haven't read it. It is not compliant with The Silver Mask.

Disclaimer: The Magisterium book series belongs to Cassandra Clare and Holly Black, not me.

I hope you like it! Reviews, kudos, etc are awesome! Constructive criticism is very welcome, but flames will be used to roast marshmallows.

Here's to Wishing (Today Will be The Day)

by: GakuenAlicefan27

If Jasper could, he'd take back each and every time he wished for Call to be out of his way.

And there had been many times like that. Because Call seemed to have everything Jasper wanted, and he didn't even care about any of it: the status, the friends, the power, the devil-may-care attitude; all the things Jasper had to work so hard for just came naturally to Call, and more than once he caught himself thinking that it was all so unfair and he wished everyone would hate Call as much as he did.

Except he didn't know anything back then, and now Aaron is dead, everyone hates Call, and Jasper has learned what unfair really means.

At night, rolling in bed and trashing in his sleep, Jasper imagines some deity smirking at him and asking: "Are you happy now? Does it taste good like you thought it would?"

"No." Jasper thinks. "It tastes like bile."

~x~

The Mages don't trust them anymore. Now that they know Call is Constantine, they are determined to find cracks in their story about what happened in Maine, to try and find proof that Call is lying when he says he doesn't remember being The Enemy of Death.

(They think he killed Aaron, as if Call wouldn't rather be six feet under, in Aaron's place, than have that happen).

They don't say it to their faces, not in so many words, but they think Jasper and Tamara are on The Enemy's side; that Call used his famous charisma (HA!) to sway them with promises of power and immortality.

But they can't prove anything, so Jasper and Tamara go back to the Magisterium under their watchful eye, and Tamara pretends not to notice Kimiya avoiding her, while Jasper pretends not to notice no one in his family has tried to contact him.

He and Tamara have gotten closer the last few weeks, which is partly because the other students barely talk to them anymore, opting to gossip among themselves when they think they can't hear them, and partly because they are grieving together, both Aaron's death, and Call's fate. So Tamara tells him about the emptiness she feels going back to her group's empty chambers and the overwhelming feeling of failure growing in her chest, and Jasper tells her about how not a day goes by in which he doesn't feel his throat tight with the crushing sensation that everything's going to hell and he's simply watching.

~x~

Tamara is up to something. She's told him she has a plan, but she hasn't told him the details yet.

It must be something big though, or else she wouldn't be making such an effort to pretend she's okay in front of everyone else. She's taking her time, and she has to make these people believe she's harmless until it's the right moment to act on whatever she's thinking of.

Jasper thinks of Call, alone in his Panopticon cell, with a ghost on his back and all the time in the world to drown in his guilt, and hopes the right moment will come soon.

~x~

He is skeptic when he hears Anastasia is going to help them; a part of him wants to shake Tamara and ask her what the hell she's thinking, trusting Alex's stepmother when Alex is the cause of all this in the first place.

But another part, the part that trusts Tamara, the part that is fed up with being in the Magisterium, looking at walls and going to classes and doing nothing when Aaron is dead, and Call is in the Panopticon, and everything is wrong – That part is willing to take the gamble of working with Anastasia if it means getting out of this place and doing something.

And they will be doing something: they'll escape the Magisterium and orchestrate a prison break in the Panopticon. They'll get Call out of that hellhole and run somewhere the Assembly can't find them.

It's not a perfect plan, and it doesn't solve everything. But it's what they have and it's enough for now.

~x~

"Ready?" Tamara asks.

"Yes." Jasper answers.

A/N: Thank you for reading!

You can find me on tumblr as agarotado27dejunho to discuss anything Magisterium related or just say "Hi!"