Leah Ravenscar | Shadowhunter Fanfiction

Flashbacks: Part II

"Alec. Isabelle. Leah." Maryse called from outside the door one day. The children - Isabelle and Leah now 9 and Alec 11 years old - appeared outside the door. "Yes, mom." Isabelle asked.

Maryse gestured towards the very good-looking, blonde boy beside her in a friendly manner, and said "Remember. I told you Jonathan Christopher Wayland will be arriving in the Institute today."

"I remember." Izzy replied promptly and Alec nodded his head.

Leah's eyes meanwhile widened upon seeing the boy. At the age of 9, she had started having some visions and insights - not that Leah knew her insights turned true. But at seeing Jonathan Christopher Wayland, something intuitive inside her told her that this boy was her half-brother.

"Jonathan Christopher Wayland will be living in the Institute with us from today onwards. I am sure you 3 will be very friendly towards him; won't you?" Maryse asked.

"Yes, mom." The children replied unanimously.

"Jonathan? Would you like to say something about yourself?"

The boy seemed very tired, but said a few bland words anyway. "My name is Jonathan Christopher. I am 10 years old, and I don't like ducks."

"Okay . . .that's very interesting." Maryse said excitedly. "I'll show you to your room then, JC."

"Yes, you may."

***

Jace liked to train on his own, where he could go much fiercer and harsher than he normally would - away from everyone's eyes, releasing his anger, grief and adrenalin on the dummies and the archery board.

He refused the company of any of the Lightwood children, believing that either of them were too weak to match his standards of training. Leah however came across Jace somersaulting, throwing punches and aiming blades in the training room once, and she stopped to watch.

"Why are you staring?" Jace finally asked unkindly.

"Would you like to train with me?" Leah offered.

"No." He replied flatly.

"Why not?"

"Because you are a girl and you are weak. My father used to say that I have to train with someone who is stronger than I am. Only then will I be able to improve. Training with you dim-witted weaklings is no fun."

"That is very rude. You have not even seen me fighting." Leah pointed out.

"And I would hardly care." Jace replied dryly.

"Please. Just one duel. If I lose against you, I will never ask you to train with me again."

"You most definitely will lose, so that will rather be a relief, I daresay. My father said I was the best warrior of my age. There was no better than me except for my own namesake, and I don't know what he meant by that."

Leah knew, though. Her demonically intuitive mind said that there was another Jonathan out there who would be even stronger than Jace. "Fine. And if I win, you will let us train with you. Is that clear?"

Jace shrugged carelessly, the most confident of himself. Leah stepped at the centre of the training room, chose a shortsword as her weapon and as soon as Jace had finished counting till 3, she arched her shortsword in an elegant angle and drove forward, nearly managing to impale Jace.

The boy, obviously stunned, dodged Leah's assault. He flung his own seraph blade in front of him the way his father had taught him, but Leah was very quick and very agile. Soon, she had struck very swiftly at Jace's sword, who landed on his knee, weaponless and conflicted.

Jace tried to fight Leah by hand, but the girl was strong in this case too. She pivoted her body sharply and landed on top of Jace, pinning him to the ground with her sword tip held close to his throat.

"You win." Jace whispered, sounding the most astounded.

Leah got off her opponent, dusted her leggings and smiled. "I did. Lesson number one: never be overconfident. It is even worse than being shy and negative about yourself."

"How did you . . . .you are . . ." Jace seemed momentarily stuttered, unable to accurately frame intelligible sentences in his mind.

"In Idris you must have never really been aware of how well other children of your age progressed with their training." Leah considered. Jace still said nothing. "Well, don't tell me defeat had been so unexpected. Would you now discontinue from speaking?"

"Tomorrow." Jace finally said, nodding his head as a gesture of respect and acceptance. "Tomorrow, I shall train again - with you and your siblings."

***

Leah had her first major fit when she was 11. Even though Alec had comforted her and Isabelle had too done her best during Leah's epilepsy (by not screaming and crying), Maryse had grown quite worried after the incident.

Leah had been put in for a night of good sleep, and when she woke up the next morning, a kind woman with pretty grey eyes and wavy brown hair was sitting on the bed beside her. "Good morning, Leah." The woman announced softly. Leah muttered a good morning, and sat up on her bed.

Tessa had been a mildly frequent visitor in the Institute. She came to check on Leah, to gather updates on anything peculiar about her and to make a fair acquaintance with her own daughter. So by the time the girl had been 11, she considered Tessa as some distant warlock friend who occasionally came to visit her.

"How do you feel?" Tessa questioned, and Leah shrugged. "Fine. Do you . . . .do you know what happened last night? I think I got really sick. It was as if my head were exploding; and my body was constantly contracting and expanding. My stomach was churning and threatening to make me vomit. It felt as if the blood from my brain was coming into my throat. I couldn't breath, and I felt so . . . .dizzy. I'm pretty sure I vibrated and shivered a lot too. I don't know what that means. Is it some mundane disease?"

Tessa remained silent for some time, and then finally said "Last night you went through a major symptom. And today after I tell you what I tell you, you will go through a major change. Your views about everything might change after I am done talking."

"What are saying, Tessa?" Leah asked, confusedly.

"You've asked me a question, and I think that now, I must finally tell you the truth."

"Honestly, you have no idea how weird you're being." Leah said. "What do mean by the truth?"

"The truth is vast and the truth is everything. There is too much in the truth. I will begin the truth by saying that I am your biological mother."

Leah was stunned - shocked. Tessa's words went against all Codex laws about warlocks that she had ever been taught. And yet, the girl listened as the older woman spoke - as she told her the truth.

Tessa was right about everything she said then. But most of all, she was right about one thing: after she had done speaking, Leah's views about everything had changed.