Undone || Malec

PROLOGUE

"NO!" Max exclaimed in anger and without considering the danger, he stormed through the portal after them.

"MAX!" Rafael screamed as the girls made similar sounds of distress. As they approached the portal spluttered and started to shrink. "I'm going after him!" Rafael stated, focused solely on his brother's safety.

"But-" Alexandra began but Rafael cut back in with one last order.

"Tell dad what happened, I'll bring that idiot back!" and without another word Rafael jumped through the shrinking portal.

~

Max had been through portals before - hell, he made portals of his own - but it had never felt like this. He couldn't focus, he felt like he was looking in 5 different directions yet couldn't comprehend why he was there. He didn't know why he couldn't remember why he was there and felt distress as his body felt like it was being pulled t every angle. Colours blurred and his head pulsed. He felt sick and just as it was easing up and he could finally focus, he was suddenly horizontal. Pain flared in his joints and in his face where it contacted the ground. With a groan, he slowly pried his face from the damp grass. He blinked deliriously and was finally beginning to recover before being winded by a weight on his back.

"FUCK!" A familiar voice exclaimed and Max could only groan in reply. He let his body relax into the ground, his strength felt unpredictable after the acid trip he'd just experienced. He was vaguely aware of rustling beside him before he was ripped from the floor and forced to look into hazel eyes. "You complete knob! Who goes through a portal unprepared?! You know better than all of us how dangerous that is!" The angry voice rattled inside his skull but it finally clicked into place what had happened as the words sunk in. He winced when he felt the bruising grip of his brother on his shoulders and groaned when Rafael shook him whilst cursing.

"OK OK I'M SORRY. STOP. STOP I'M GOING TO BE SICK!" Max cried and shoved his brother away. Rafael growled in annoyance before looking around, seraph blade at the ready. When Max's wits finally returned to him, he grabbed a hold of his own seraph blades that were no longer glowing. Remembering why he suffered the experience in the first place, Max jumped to his feet and joined his brother in a defensive stance. His eyes darted round the cemetery for any signs of dark fur and scorched skin.

"Where the hell did they go?" Max frowned, inching towards his brother.

"I'm not sure, I can't hear or see anything. The atmosphere isn't malicious anymore." Rafael assessed, only vaguely aware and happy that his brother was subtly seeking comfort from him by standing close. After a few minutes of checking the perimeter and ensuring they were safe, the brothers finally relaxed.

"I can't believe they escaped!" Max exclaimed angrily, kicking at a gravestone. Rafael huffed a breath of annoyance.

"You shouldn't have been so reckless!" He chastised. Max rolled his eyes, swinging round to look at his older brother with a sarcastic grace he no doubt got from his papa. Max opened his mouth to retaliate but Rafael's brows furrowed. "Where are the girls?"

Max glanced around, just as confused. "Did they leave?"

"Maybe we moved location." Rafael speculated but Max shook his head.

"No it's definitely the same cemetery." Max assured, recognising the small church and surrounding graves they'd fought in only moments ago.

"Are you sure? Something feels off ... different." Rafael hesitated and surveyed the area with more scrutiny. "Maybe time passed differently in there. That portal was unlike any I'd seen." Rafael reasoned.

"Yeah ... yeah that's plausible. Sometimes my timing can get a bit off when I portal to the institute." Max swallowed before turning to his brother. "Rafa, what should we do? We're all alone, the hounds are out there and the girls are missing!" he panicked a little, looking for guidance. His brother was a born leader - the lightwood blood running strong in his veins. He was more like their father out of the two of them. Max was certain his dad would hand the institute over to his older brother some day soon.