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In the ways of the Shadow World, speaking of the First Angel was not forbidden, but more of a taboo. They knew of the legends, of the Great War between the Angels and Demons themselves, and the cosmic being whom led the rebellion. No one really knew what happened, like stated before, it was not taught to them like how Shadowhunting was imbued into them.
The Fourth Mortal Instrument proved to be real, however, which should have not been a surprise to them. So, maybe the legends they knew had to be too.
All the legends are true, what an understatement that was.
As she thought about this, Lyra sat in the meeting room beside Jace, Alec, and Isabelle. The four of them being stared over by Maryse and Shang.
The silent fury raging behind Shang's facade had to be the most suffocating thing she has ever felt. It actually instilled fear into her bones and she had to keep her eyes on the ground the avoid meeting his gaze. Because if she did, she would surely crumble into pieces.
How could Henry have ever been raised by such a cold, terrifying man?
Speaking of Henry, he was the reason that they were being interrogated at the moment by this man. That and his brothers.
Three days ago, Henry, his brothers, and their belongings had disappeared overnight. No one knew where they could have gone because the security cameras had been tampered with that night, and no one had even saw them leave the Institute. But they had torn the place upside down, by the order of Shang, with no luck.
The Darkblood brothers had simply vanished, as if they never existed here in the first place.
Lyra and the others had been scouring the city, out of fear that his brothers had kidnapped him, relentlessly. They had only returned to get a new map and plan out new sector's of the city to search when they had been pulled into this meeting room. Their tired appearances were proof of their never-ending search.
"If we had any idea where they were..." Jace's voice is low, full of irritation from both lack of sleep and patience, "...don't you think we would have come clean by now?" His expression hardening as he had the gall to make contact with Shang.
Lyra leaned on the arm rest, her lids threatening to close. She fought off the sleepiness in order to keep focused. And luckily, Isabelle was having the same reaction beside her.
On the other side of Jace, however, Alec sat in a tensed position with his face almost as dark as Jace's, if not more intimidating. There were dark circles beginning to grow prominent around his pretty, green eyes. Of them all, he had to be the one getting the least amount of sleep, if any at all. Yet he did not look to be fighting off sleep, more so, he looked downright pissed.
"You all have been searching for seventy-two hours. Are you saying that you have found not one clue to their whereabouts?" Maryse questioned, looking just as impatient. She is eyeing her children, as if begging them to just tell Shang what he wanted to hear so she could be done with this, too.
"The longer we stay here wasting time, the lesser our chances of finding him sooner," Alec clenched out through gritted teeth, his knuckles white from how hard he was clenching the arm rests.
Shang leaned down with his palms flat on the table.
His appearance seeming taller and bigger than them as they all stared up at him with equal expressions of hate. He didn't even look worried or concerned about the disappearance of his sons, what he looked to be is furious. Not like a father, more like a child who has had their toy ripped out of their hands.
"These are trying times. My sons are six hours away from being labelled as Deviants, as they have already been labelled as Rogue's." His voice had to be as deadly as a snake's venom, how he spouted these words with such malice and accusing. "Before I am their Father, I have sworn my loyalty to the Clave. As such, if they are not found within the hour, I will be sending Shadowhunters out to retrieve them under arrest, to be tried by the fullest extent of the law," He revealed, and it actually sounded as he didn't care.
And they realized, that he really did not, with how his eyes were so crazily...humanity-less.
Despite their shocked faces, Lyra is the one to speak up first, "You can't do that!" She looked to Maryse, who only sighed in turn. "Henry isn't a rogue! How can you all give up on him so quickly?!" She asked in disbelief.
Isabelle looked to her mother with begging, before her fiery eyes went to Shang. "How do we know you didn't plan all of this? You and your sons. What if you had them take Henry?!" She accused.
"Isabelle," Maryse gasped at her daughter's gall.
Shang leaned off the table, his eyes narrowing at the small brunette woman. A truly harrowing sight to see how he shifted into some calm demeanor. "I have no need to kidnap my own son. He has been trained to follow my command without flaw," He stated with an evil glint in his eyes.
"You call beating him into submission training?" Alec challenged the man, gaining his attention, and he stood up from the chair almost at the same height as Shang, "Wherever Henry is, I'm glad, because at least he is as far away as possible from you," He snapped.
Shang's face filled with haunting, as he held the most threatening expression any of them have ever seen before.
Still, Alec did not falter.
"Alexander," Maryse hissed, "Sit down, now-"
"Enough." Alec frowned at his mother. "How can you stand there suckering up to him when you know what kind of monster he is? He's worse than the demons we fight. I will not pretend to care for him." He turned back to Shang. "I'm going to find Henry, and when I do, I'm going to make sure you never lay your hands on him again," He swore, before exiting the room.
The others glared at Shang, too, following after their friend.
Shang stared after Alec specifically, his rage filled to the brim. "You keep that son away from mine," He warned Maryse with the fullest disrespect meant, "If I catch the two of them together, alone, there will be no hole they can hide away in from me..." He left it open as he left the room and behind him, a confused Maryse.
Lyra entered her room, stopping when she found her mother, Amelia, laying out clothes on the the bed. Dresses, to be exact.
She wanted to get in a quick nap before heading out to the search again, since Alec and Jace had decided that rotations would be best. This way, they could get some sleep and other necessities.
Currently, the Lightwood siblings were out and about while she and Jace stayed behind.
"Mom," She greeted, and her mother looked up with a pleased smile while holding up a dress.
"Hey, baby." Amelia walked over to her and pressed the dress over her form. Her eyes brightening when she saw how well it looked against her. "I bought you some things before I came here. I made reservations for you and I at this wonderful little Italian restaurant—"
"Mom," She interrupted with a tired sigh following as she pushed away the dress, "I can't do this right now. I told you earlier, I have to go find my friend. He's missing and I'm worried about him," She stated, heading over and falling onto the bed.
Amelia followed and sat on the edge. Her frown deep. "Shang's son, right?" She made a face that couldn't be mistaken for anything else other than contempt. "Baby, you should let Shang gather his miscreants on his own. The angel knows what trouble they could be up to with all this Venatori business. Now, I think this dress would look wonderful—" She tried to show Lyra.
Lyra sat up with a scowl on her features. "Don't talk about Henry, like that, Mom. He's my friend. If you would have met him, you would see that he's nothing like that monster," She stated firmly.
Amelia gave her a look of disinterest. "I don't like the type of friends you've made. Darkbloods and Lightwoods," She sounded so...different...to her daughter, like she was truly loathing of them, "They are all nothing but trouble."
"Mom, stop it," Lyra frowned, wanting to cry at her mom's harsh words, "What's the matter with you? I don't want to go to fancy dinners or anything like that. How can I enjoy anything after Dad and Jack—" She paused, stopping herself as the pain came like a tidal wave in her heart.
It pressed down onto her chest, harsh.
Her mother stared at her. "Dad and Jack..." She whispered in an uneasy manner, "...You're right, baby. This is all inappropriate." She put the dress down while her eyes went to the floor. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to take my mind off of it all, I've spent days with funeral preparations and this..." She showed her all-white dress.
A mourning symbol, to other Shadowhunters.
Lyra's heart broke as she looked at her mom's sad eyes that threatened with tears. "How's Sera doing?" She asked, changing the subject matter.
Her sister was not with their mother.
Amelia had said that she had sent Sera to Idris to keep her busy with her studies. She did not want the younger to fall back, especially not after the loss of their father and brother.
It is a shame because Lyra desperately missed her little sister.
Amelia swallows thickly, standing to her feet. She ignored her daughter's question as she stood up and smiled at her daughter weakly. "I have meetings to attend to. I should go." She stepped forward and kissed Lyra's forehead, "Get some sleep, baby..."
With that, her mother had gone.
Lyra sighed and fell back into the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Not too long after, sleep consumed her.
song: angel by the wings -sia
Alec's back slid against the wall of the side of a building, huffing and puffing. Trails of smoke escaping his lips into the chilly air. His legs having given out on him after restless running around the city.
Stopping beside him, Isabelle fell in the same state. Her eyes squeezing shut as she tried to ease the pain in her side. She panted heavily.
Keeping up with her brother had been worse than any workout she has ever done. He hadn't stopped for a second, and worse, he is obviously pushing himself too hard.
They were now on a time crunch—with only four more hours left before Shang and the Clave labelled Henry and his brothers as Deviants.
None of it added up, nor made sense, so they needed to find him fast.
Alec tried to stand back up, but his weak legs brought him back down. He winced in pain as his head leaned back on the wall. "Dammit," He cursed himself.
Isabelle glanced at him from her peripherals. "We need to take a break, Alec," She breathed out as best she could.
They were both winded, and it looked that they weren't getting up soon.
"No," He refused, "There's no time for us to be sitting around." He tried to get up again.
This time, she gripped his arm and kept him sitting, and earned herself a glare. "We won't get far if we can barely stand to our feet. Think, brother," She reasoned.
"Henry could be hurt right now, or worse!" Alec fired back. His expression filled with worry. "I need to find him because I need him to be safe or else, I will lose my mind, Izzy. Don't you get that? After the last time we spoke to each other, that can't be the last things said between us. They can't!" He finally stopped raising his voice, calming down as he hid his face in his hands stressfully.
Isabelle watched him for a long moment, saddened.
She remembers seeing Henry push Alec out of the room. How he was crying and yelling at a heartbroken Alec, before slamming the door in his voice.
She still had no clue as to what happened, but she had a few guesses.
And now, Henry was missing and her brother was more distraught than ever. It didn't take much to find out why.
Alec, more than likely, blamed himself.
"Alec..." Isabelle softened her voice while watching him closely, "...Talk to me, please. Besides the obvious reasons, what's the real reason you want to find Henry so bad?"
He did not speak, not for a long time.
A few minutes passed with nothing but the city ambience in the background, but nothing more than that. Every chill of the cold wind sent shivers down their spines.
Isabelle faced the wall in front of them, still waiting. She had begun to close her eyes until she heard Alec begin to talk, and she looked up at her brother in shock at his first words.
"I like men, Izzy," He suddenly confessed, in the most shaky, scared voice. It was so small, that she barely heard it.
It wasn't the statement itself that shocked her, because she had her suspicions growing up.
But it was just the amount of courage she knew it took for her brother to finally admit it to himself and to someone else.
Isabelle's eyes watered, tears of pride welling up. Her lips trembled as she fought back the smile. "Good to know, big brother," She whispered back.
He sniffled, and with his face still hidden in his hands, she knew he was crying.
She wrapped her arms around his and leaned her head on his shoulder, hugging him.
Alec began to cry harder. His body shaking with his sobs.
Isabelle closed her eyes as she tried to control her own tears. Because now, she needed to take care of her brother. "Alec," She cooed to him in the most gentle voice she could muster up, "Thank you for telling me. I hope you know that this changes nothing. I love you as you are, I always will, no matter who you love," She promised.
Alec's heart clenched as he lifted his head, finally looking around him.
The world is still spinning. The sky is not falling. The runes on his body still ached from over use. And his sister is still here.
Nothing has changed like he thought it would.
His puffy, red eyes went to Isabelle who is smiling at him lovingly. She reached up and wiped away his tears, in fact. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?" She questioned, almost knowingly.
Alec breathed in sharply, his jaw clenching as he gathered up his courage again.
"I like..." He sniffled, hesitating, "...I feel something towards Henry, more than a friend and he's a man," He confessed.
Isabelle nodded with understanding, rubbing her hands over his arms for comfort. "Does Henry know about your feelings?" She wondered.
"Yes," He choked out.
"And does Henry have feelings for you too?"
"Yes."
She bit her lip, thinking for a few moments. "So, you both have feelings for each other. You two had a fight. And now, Henry is gone." She furrowed her brows. "Alec, you can't think that Henry left because of you. You don't know that," She advised.
"Why else would he leave?" Alec asked, glancing at her, "I hurt him. You didn't see the way he looked at me, Izzy. It was like I broke his heart and now, I can't find him, and I'm scared. Because what if that was my only chance and I ruined it all?"
"It won't be," Isabelle cheered up, "You'll have plenty of time to make things right with him, Alec. We will find him."
Alec stared at her for a long moment. His jaw clenching and his gaze falling to the ground. He slowly nodded.
The two siblings stayed like this for a few moments, settling down from the emotional rollercoaster of the moment.
It took a long while for them to get their bearings.
Isabelle is the first to stand up, in which she held her hand out to her brother. He took her hand in a firm grasp, and she hoisted him up without struggle. She smiled up at him once he is to his feet.
Alec stared down at her, his tears now dried but eyes still puffy. He suddenly looked embarrassed. "Izzy," He began, "Could we keep this between us?"
Her face immediately fell into confusion. "Keep what between us? We stopped for street hot dogs, that's all," She shrugged.
He scowled in confusion, but then he saw that gleam in her eyes. His body flooding with relief.
Admittedly, it was nice to finally feel a little of that weight off of his shoulders.
A small smile twitched on his lips. "Thanks, Izzy," He said.
"Thank me for what? You're so weird, big brother," Isabelle whipped around and began strutting down the alleyway, "Come on. We have a few more blocks to cover," She waved him over.
Alec smiled after her, following silently.
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thoughts?