City of Shattered Glass

Part 13: If Aught but Death Part Thee and Me

He was on the opposite side of the battlefield when Jace felt the pain in his stomach. Not pain that was his own, but his Parabatai's. Alec's pain. Jace yelled his name, whipping his head around in a desperate effort to find his best friend, his brother.

Everything that was happening on the field was bloody, bodies littering the ground wherever he stepped. He didn't waste a second. Jace ran across the field toward the direction in which his Parabatai bond pulled him.

And then he saw him.

Across the field, on the ground was Magnus, holding Alec in his lap as they kissed. Jace couldn't remember anything in the time it took him to run half the distance between them, but he was close, so close.

Pain ripped itself through his body, his Parabatai rune burning like it was on fire. He doubled over, trying to gain breath as he watched the rune that was his bond with Alec bleed. The rune began to lighten and Jace straightened again. Alec was not going to die, not if Jace still drew breath.

He dropped to his knees next to a crying Magnus. The warlock seemed to be shaking his head, muttering something to himself through sobs. You're not dying Alec, not today. And even though his Parabatai was no longer breathing, Jace grabbed his stele and pressed it into Alec's pale, cold shoulder. Nothing happened. No, Jace refused to let Alec go.

"Please Alec," he said. Jace had no idea what to say to his brother and so he did the only thing he could think of; he began reciting the parabatai oath to his brother. By the end, Jace was struggling to blink back tears, "...If aught but death part thee and me."

Alec did not stir; he did not blink. Despair overwhelmed him. The idea of a world without Alec hurt him so much that Jace was about to give up hope, believe that his parabatai was gone when he felt a burning sensation where his rune was. He looked down and saw that the rune had slowly returned to its usual color.

"Magnus," he said, blinking, discerning if it was real, "Look."

The warlock lifted his head, his eyes puffy and red. He looked at the rune and immediately grabbed Alec's shirt, looking down at his face with hope. Together, they watched as Alec's wounds began to knit themselves back together. The seconds passed slowly.

Alec opened his eyes.

He looked very confused, "Why—" Alec swallowed, "Why are you both looking at me like that."

"You son of a bitch," Jace muttered, smiling.

Magnus didn't waste his time. He wrapped Alec in a passionate kiss, tears still leaking from the corners of his eyes. Alec let out a small gasp.

"You're a pain in my ass," said Magnus, sniffling as he wiped his face with his shirt sleeve, "you know that, right?"

Alec smiled, his voice hoarse as he touched Magnus' cheek, "Someone's gotta keep that ego of yours in check."

It looked as if Magnus was going to kiss him again when a buzzing came from his pocket. He extracted his phone from his illustrious pockets, the screen cracked but still functional.

He looked up at Jace, his expression surprised, "It's Clary," he said, "Catarina says she never made it to her apartment."

***

Water struck her in the face like a blow.

Clary went down, choking, into freezing darkness; her first thought was that the portal had faded beyond repairing, and that she was stuck in the whirling black in-between place.

Her second thought was that she was already dead.

She was probably only unconscious for a few seconds, though it felt like the end of everything. When she came awake, it was with a shock that was like the shock of breaking through a layer of ice. She had been unconscious and now, suddenly, she wasn't; she was lying on her back on a cold, damp earth, staring up at a sky so full of stars it looked like a handful of silver pieces had been flung across its dark surface. Her mouth was full of brackish liquid; she turned her head to the side, coughed and spat and gasped until she could breathe again.