The three walked back into the Police Station, pulling up the elevators in the main lobby.
"So, I was promised a great plan." Clary taunted, glancing around to make sure no one was watching them.
"We'll head up towards the vault." Jace pushed the button for the lift. "Alec and Izzy are handling the rest. All we have to do is wait for their signal...and grab the Cup."
At the ding, signaling the elevator had arrived, the doors opened to relieve Alaric going over a few files. Quickly, Kas took hold of the two Shadowhunters and forced them to hide behind the wall to the left. They all let out a small breath when the man walked to the right.
Peeking from her spot from behind the wall, Clary followed the man with her eyes. "He's on our side."
"He locked you in a shipping container."
The younger twin cocked her head, following her sister in the lift. "Good point."
Once all three of them were in, Jace leaned over to press the big red button on the control panel. Forcing the lift to jerk to a stop.
"What now?" The redhead wanted to know what came next in the 'amazing' plan that the blonde Shadowhunter promised. "We're supposed to climb the elevator shaft and waltz in the vault unnoticed?"
At her little joke the couple glanced at one another, liking the idea. Showing his famous smirk, Jace stood on his toes a bit as he popped a ceiling panel over. "Now, why didn't I think of that?"
Thinking that he was joking, Clary laughed only for her to cut herself off at the face Kassidy was making. "Wait, he's kidding, right?"
"He's not." Kas popped her lips. Only then to go through Jace's jacket pocket and pull out his stele. Tossing it up in the air only for Jace to snag it before it landed back into her palm.
"Don't take my stele." He pointed it at her. "You always find a way to break it."
If they weren't fighting, Kassidy would tease him about all the ones he broke while she only broke the one. But they were fighting, probably the worst one they have ever been. And even though she could tell he wanted her to tease him like they were fine, they weren't.
"Fine." Kas spun on her heel, doing her best to ignore how Jace seemed to deflate. "Bag." She demanded holding her hand out for Clary's belongings. Not thinking much of it, the redhead handed her sister her things. "Jacket."
"You want to tell me what's going on in that head of yours." Clary poked fun, discarding the outer layer away.
Digging into her sister's bag, she fetched her stele, tossing it back to Clary who fumbled with it before clutching it to her chest. "That you really need to study 'The Great Book'."
The twin's eyebrow pinched before looking at Jace for an explanation, who graciously gave it to her. "Remember the binoculars?"
"Yeah..." She didn't see how it was relevant.
Adjusting his collar, the blonde Shadowhunter showed her what rune she needed to draw. "This one's a Nyx rune. It's like night vision. You can copy mine. You got it?"
"Yeah." Clary shifted the stele in her hands, still not fully understanding what the two meant. "Why do I need night vision?"
"Carrot Cake." Kassidy sighed, knowing that her sister was smarter than that. "Why does your military have night vision goggles?"
"To see in the dar-oh." It suddenly dawned on her. "I'm not going to like this plan, am I?"
"Nope." Spinning on her heel, Kas whipped out her phone when she felt it buzz in her pocket.
It was a text from Izzy. "We're in position, you ready?"
"Yep. Do it." She texted back. Turning back to face the two Shadowhunter's. "Xander and Belles are in-" the two jumped away from each other "-position. Everything okay?" Her eyes flickered between the two, wondering what just happened.
"Yeah, yeah we're good." Clary forced her blush away while trying to forget what Jace's fingers felt as they danced across her shoulder. He was Kassidy's boyfriend for God sakes! Her sister. This couldn't, wouldn't happen.
Over with Jace, he wasn't doing much better. He refused to make eye contact with Kas. He had no idea what happened or how it happened. The Shadowhunter felt somewhat disgusted with himself for the tension that was between him and his girlfriend's twin.
"Okay." Kazzie dragged out the word, brows furrowed. "We're just waiting for the signal from the others."
"What signal?" Clary asked before jumping the littlest bit at the sudden black out. "Whoa." Her eyes tried to adjust with the help of the new rune on her shoulder.
"That signal." Jace said, before turning to the warlock. "Lady's first."
—-------
Once they reached what they hoped was the storage room, Kassidy flicked her hand causing the vent to pop off while surrounded by a slight green glow. After she climbed out, Clary was right behind her holding a witchlight forcing Jace to climb out last.
"What is all this crap?" Jace said as he took in all the boxes. "Lunch receipts?"
Neither twin got to respond as the door swung open revealing a police officer holding a flashlight. Acting quickly, all three of them disappeared to the mundane's eye. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, the man left. Locking the door behind him.
"You're getting pretty good with your stele." The Shadowhunter looked down at the redhead.
Clary just shrugged. "Well, at least we know he's not a Downworlder."
Kassidy shuffled between the two, not bothering to comment about what her sister just said. "I'm assuming it's alphabetical?"
"Yeah, I think so." Clary confirmed, fingers running over the labels before landing on the one that read 'Garroway, Luke'. "In here." Taking the box from the shelf, she brought it to the closest desk. Pulling the top off so she could ruffle though it only then to pause at the picture staring back at her.
At every picture Clary stopped on, Kas could feel her dark emotions peeking out more and more. It didn't help that in every picture her face was looking back at her, smiling in Jocelyn's arms. Of course, she knew it wasn't her, but all the foggy memories of her life before everything happened flashed in her mind.
Jace, watching Kassidy silently, could tell she was having trouble watching the whole ordeal. If it wasn't the way her face went blank or the fact that her fingernails were digging into her palm, it was her eyes. It was always her eyes. After knowing the Warlock for as long as he did, he knew that her eyes revealed every single thing.
Acting like he's bored, he crossed his arms over his chest, hoping it'll get Clary to go faster so it'll put Kas out of her misery. "This will take all day." Clary rolled her eyes before dumping it, thinking he was just being snappy. Jace blinked, not expecting that to her response. "Or you could just do that."
Pushing things to the side, she dug through the now mess of the random things that the officers collected from Luke's desk. After a minute, she finally landed on the tarot cards that Dot always seemed to use. Flipping through them, she finally paused. Stopping on the one that looked like the Holy Grail from the Indiana Jones movie.
"Well shit..." Kas whispered as she looked at what her sister was holding.
Safe to say Jace was shocked too. "That looks exactly like the Mortal Cup."
"This is it. It has to be." Clary said, slightly breathless as she was now one step closer to finding Jocelyn. Not wanting to wait even a beat longer, she reached into the card. Well, tried to reach. Once her fingers touched it, instead of going through and plucking it from the drawing, her fingers collided with the paper.
She tried again.
And again.
And again.
The same result.
"What's wrong?" Kas asked from over Clary's shoulder.
"I'm not sure, I..." The redhead stuttered, feeling the uncertainty freeze her blood.
"You're not sure what's wrong or you're not sure where your mom hid the Cup?" Jace almost snarled.
"I-I don't-it's not working." She stuttered again. "Why-why isn't it working?"
"We can figure it out later." Kassidy commented. "But we need to get you somewhere safe."
"Your sister's right." Jace for once, agreed with the Warlock. "If that is the cup, you're the only one alive that can bring it back."
The newbie gulped. "Right, yeah. Let's go."
All three move to shuffle out, but out of the corner of Kassidy's eye, a shimmer of light catches her attention. Staying put as the Shadowhunters move back over to the vent, she glanced at everything on the table before landing on something that looked way too familiar.
"No." Her voice barely reached her own ears. Picking it up, her fingers graze over the smooth surface of an old pocket watch. Flipping it over her heart dropped when she saw the engraving. "He kept it. Why did he keep it?"
Bringing her thumb up to the button, she went to press down when Jace popped his head back around the corner. "Kas, what are you doing? We need to move."
"Right." Without thinking, she pocketed the thing and caught up with them.
—-------
Speed walking out of the police station, they finally caught up with the others.
"Did you get it?" Alec was the first one to speak.
"Theoretically." Clary answered.
Alec leaned down a little, wanting to know if he heard right. "Theoretically?"
"Yeah. I found the card." She was frazzled , that much was clear. "I just have to figure out how I reached into my notebook before. It's...it's not an exact science."
"Can't you just pull the Cup out?"
"I can, theoretically. I just...it's not as easy as it looks, Alec."
"Listen-" Jace cutted in "-you two can discuss theory as much as you want when we get back to the Institute. But right now, considering we just stole from the cops, I suggest we get home."
"Guys..." Isabelle started to feel her necklace pulse. "I think the mundanes might be the least of our worries."
"At least we know the demon necklace works." Alec mumbled.
"Of course it works." Kas looked at him, offended. "My dad's the one who spelled it."
"Never a dull day." Jace grimminced, leading the other to leave. "Let's go."
As the three Shadowhunters and the Warlock start walking, Clary does a double take to see them already a few feet ahead of her. "Guys, slow down." Speeding up to try and catch up with the four, she didn't see the old lady that was almost half her height. "Oh, I am so sorry." Reaching down, Clary goes to pick up the purse the lady dropped when suddenly her face morphed into something like an alien.
Hearing the startled gasp, Kassidy acted on impulse. Ripping a sword that was hidden on Jace, she slashed at its neck. The head rolling to the floor after such a clean cut. "Are you alright?" She stepped over the body as it disaggregated into nothing, checking her over for injuries.
"I'm fine." Clary shrugged her off gently.
"How did it find us?" Alec questioned, eyes scanning his surroundings for threats.
"I don't know-" Jace spotted a few demons dressed as police officers "-but she brought friends."
"How can you tell?" Clary tripped over her own feet since Kassidy was basically dragging her to keep up.
At the moment, the Warlock didn't care that her sister still couldn't see them. All she knew was that she was in danger. "Don't focus on them, just keep moving."
"But I can't see anything!"
"Just move, Clary!" Kassidy basically shouted, only to come to a full stop, not expecting it, Clary ran into her back. Looking over all of their shoulders, she spotted multiple officers starting to crowd around the group.
"Okay, there's too many people." Clary muttered, finally able to see flickers behind the demon's glamour.
"I don't say this often, but I agree with Clary." Alec had to forcefully stop himself from gagging at what he just said. "We gotta get outta here."
Luckily since Clary had been coming here since she was a child, she quickly spotted a passageway she used to take with Simon. "Hey, this way!" Knowing that it was the best option, the others followed the redhead down some stairs to a locked door next to some electronic box. "What's the Unlock rune again?" She asked the others meekly.
Not waiting for anything, Jace just kicked the door down. "Open sesame. Go."
Once they all rush in, the sounds of being followed by demonic creatures alerted Kas and Alec. Even though both of them had the same idea, Alec was the first to deglamourize his bow.
Jace, seeing this, back tracks his steps so he and Alec are face-to-face. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Holding them off." He notches an arrow. "Take Clary back to the Institute."
"No, if you're staying, I'm staying." The Shadowhunter shook his head, hating the idea. "We fight together."
"No, you're not." Kas leaves her spot next to Clary, bow suddenly in hand. "I'll stay, you're gonna take Clary back to the Institute."
"What, no!"
"Absolutely not."
Kassidy couldn't tell who's outcry was louder, Clary or Jace's. "Now's not the time to argue, if the demons get you or the card, everyone in the Shadow-world is fucked."
"I'm not leaving anyone behind." Jace's voice was hard.
"You don't have a choice." Alec rebutted.
Clary at the moment, didn't care about Alec staying back, she just cared about her sister staying behind. "No I agree with Jace, I just got you back. We can't risk it."
"Don't worry. It's not like this is the first time they saved your life." Isabelle smirked, tried to comfort the two while also ticking off a point to the bow bois in her head. "I doubt it'd be the last."
"Go." Alec gave Jace a look. The shorter one wanted to say something else, but he knew his parabatai was right.
Kas, seeing that Jace gave into the idea, gave him a look, a quiver full of arrows appearing on her back. "Look after Clary."
Clary gripped her sister's arm. "Kazzie-"
"I need you safe." That seemed to shut the redhead up.
Sighing, Kassidy brought her forehead to her sister's, shutting her eyes tightly with her hand on Clary's neck, the scar against her palm. Tears gathered in Clary's eyes. Kassidy was willing to stay to make sure she got back to the Institute safely? Her sister that loves her unconditionally, wanting to make sure she stays safe even if it meant putting herself in harm's way. She let her head fall into Kassidy's. "Come back to me?"
"Always." The Warlock whispered back. Once she opened her eyes, she nudged her twin towards Jace and Izzy. "Now go."
Seeing the emotional turmoil that Clary was experiencing, Jace placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her around, leading her away. Without her knowing, the blonde Shadowhunter looked back at Kassidy and gave her a slight nod.
Knowing that he had to distract her from thinking too much of her sister, Alec glanced at her while notching an arrow. "Aren't you going to use magic?"
Snapping out of it, the Warlock copied him. "And what, deny them the pleasure of seeing the 'Bow Bois' in action? Not a chance."
"I really wish you would stop calling us that."
"Oh shush."
It was one thing to see Jace and Kas spar, but it was a whole other thing to watch the bow bois fight together. They just...clicked. Always seeming to know what the other person was thinking, always knowing when the other needed that extra help, always slipping into something that resembled everything that they were.
At the last second, the dark hair archer pointed at something over the Warlock's shoulder. Trusting him completely, she didn't even duck out of the way, just letting the wind graze her cheek as a shax demon disintegrated into dust behind her. "I had that."
"Sure you did." The smirk said it all. Suddenly it went quiet. Too quiet. Alec glanced around the room. "Is that all of them?"
Before she could respond, a sound broke through the silence. With speed no two humans should have, the archers whipped around. Strings pulled to their cheek, arrows pointed at the commotion. "Whoa, whoa! It's me!" Luke held up his hands, showing he came in peace.
Alec was the first to point his arrow to the floor, plucking it from the string once he relaxed. Seeing that the Warlock didn't put hers down, but instead looked like she was considering shooting the poor guy, he whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Kas."
Hearing her best friend's voice knocked Kassidy back into real life. Huffing slightly, she brought her bow down, placing her arrow back into the quiver that laid on her back. "You've escaped, I see."
Luke winced at her tone. It would seem now that Clary wasn't here, her twin wasn't going to play civil. "Actually, new evidence came in. They let me go."
Kassidy had no idea how she should react to seeing Luke again. Before today, she held nothing but anger for the Werewolf, and for good reason. But now, after seeing that little trinket that made her pocket just the tiniest bit more heavy than usual, her emotions for the man were a lot more complicated. And she hated complicated. Her life was already filled to the brim with complicated things, she did not want to add this to the list.
Alec, seeing the uneasiness in the look she was giving Luke, took a step closer to where part of his chest was touching her back. Letting her know that he was still there. Almost instantly, the dark hair archer felt the blonde relax into his touch. Knowing he accomplished what he wanted, he leaned down towards her ear. "Come on, we need to make sure Clary and the Cup made it back to the Institute."
However, while he made it known it wasn't directed at the other man, Luke still perked up at the mention of the redhead. "Wait, you left Clary alone?"
The warlock's shoulders immediately hunched up to her ears at the implication. "You think I'm stupid enough to let my untrained sister fight by herself against shax demons?" Xander, bless his heart, tried to calm her down only for her to shrug it away as she took a threatening step forward. "You may be in the business of leaving people to fend for themselves, but I'm not. She's with Jace and Isabelle."
Face falling at what she said, Luke tried to reach her. "Kassidy-"
"Don't touch me!" Jerking away, she basically fell back in Alec's chest only then to almost collapse to the ground with a screech as her head felt like it was getting ripped into two.
Thankfully, Alec caught her before she could fall even further. She could vaguely hear the absolute terror of her friend's voice as he called her name, but it was like trying to focus on something that was buried under layer and layers of other audio cues.
Suddenly, everything around her was foggy. Trying to blink everything back into play, she was suddenly in some sort of hallway. A hallway that seemed to show a heavy breathing of Clary rushing down it.
It was weird trying to follow her, because it wasn't her body that seemed to, but she still ended up at the dead end that Clary found herself blocked in.
"Crap!" Clary spun around to see an absurd number of creepy bug type demons crawl slowly, almost like they were toying with her. The fear that clawed at her heart was evident on her face. Tears sprinkled her eyes, knowing that there was no way she could fight them all.
As they slowly inched closer, the younger twin thought back on the chest she pushed into the paper and how she only discovered the ability because of how big her emotions were in play at the moment. Using that new amount of information, she pulled the 'Ace of Cups' card out of her pocket and-
"Kassidy, please!"
At full force, she was ripped away from the vision. Not expecting anything like this to happen, she fell onto her knees, gasping for breath. Finding herself back in her actual body.
"Kas, Kas hey. It's me." Alec checked her over. "What happened, are you okay?"
Shaking off his hands, she scrambled back onto her feet. "Clary-it's Clary, she's-oh god-" Not even bothering to finish her sentences, she booked it down the wall once her legs wanted to work again.
"Wait-Kas!"
—-------
Back with Clary, she kept her sword unleashed as she walked around as quietly as she could, not wanting to risk running into any more demons. Her steps came to a halt when she heard something around the corner. "Jace!" She whispered. "Jace?"
But it wasn't Jace that came around said corner, but Kassidy. "Clary." Even if it seemed she was a little out of breath, she still ran up to her sister.
"Hey." Clary breathed out, happy to see a familiar face only for it to fall when she saw the blood on her forehead. "Oh, you're hurt!"
Kassidy took hold of the redhead's hand before she could touch it. "I'll be alright. You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm..." She gulped, pointing back to where she came from. "I'm fine. Barely, but-"
"What happened?" The question almost seemed robotic.
However, the Shadowhunter barely seemed to notice. "One of the Shax demons cornered me. But I got the Cup. I don't know, my instincts just kicked in and I...I could do it." The smile that bloomed on her face was a sight to behold. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'll be a Shadowhunter after all."
"Clary, you're amazing. I always knew you could do it." Kas' face was matching Clary's. "Now give me the Cup and let's go." She held out her hand, expecting for her sister to give it to her.
The youngest of the twins, tilted her head a little. "Give you the Cup?" Her eyes raked over the other. She knew her sister was over protective, it didn't take long to find out, but how she asked, more like demanded, didn't sit right.
"Yes. Only until we get back to the Institute. It's the only way I can keep you safe. I'll die before I let anything happen to you."
"Yeah, you're totally right." Reaching behind her to pull something out of her pocket, but instead of it being the Cup, Clary rammed her blade into Kassidy's stomach.
"Clary?" Blood began coating the Warlock's lips as she hunched over the blade, looking up at her sister's face.
"Kazzie..." But Clary was sure. "No! Oh, my God! Kazzie!" An ugly sob almost escaped her lips at the thought of Kassidy's blood on her hands until she saw the eye's flicker. Scowling, she twisted the sword still sitting in Demon Kas' chest only then to watch as it turned to dust. Watching the pieces float away in the wind.
Just as the last bit disappeared into nothingness, another Kassidy came rushing around the corner with Luke and Alec right behind her. "Clary!" Kassidy yelled, getting closer to her sister only for her to slide to a stop when Clary pointed the seraph blade at her.
"Get back!" Clary cried, not wanting another repeat of the emotional turmoil she just went through. "How do I know you're my sister?"
"Carrot Cake-"
"Answer the question!"
"The bracelet." Kassidy flickered over her sister's face. "I gave it to you on our twelfth birthday and every year after that-"
"-you'd gift me another charm." Dropping her sword, she ran into Kassidy's arms. "It's you." Clary choked.
"It's me." Kassidy whispered, holding her tight. "Are you alright, what happened?"
"There was a demon." The Shadowhunter held her tighter as she told her sister what happened. "Shapeshifter. It looked just like you."
"Hey." The blonde pulled back slightly, leaving one hand on Clary's shoulder the other pushing some of hair from her face. "It wasn't me, okay? It's gone now."
"Yeah. Yeah, it's gone." She just repeated what Kassidy said. "It just-" She just shook her head, not wanting to think much more about it. "How'd you find me?"
"We didn't. She did." Luke finally spoke up from his place next to Alec, having watched the whole interaction between the two. "After I escaped jail, I ran into Alec and Kassidy, who basically clasped before running here."
That brought the redhead into panic mode again. "Oh, God. Are you okay? What happened?"
Kas wanted to tell her the truth, the whole reason why it felt like her head was splitting open was because she saw what was happening to her, but now wasn't the time nor the place. "I'll fill you in later, but right now we need to get you back to the Institute."
"What about the demons?" Clary questioned, not wanting to leave any demons left to endanger the Mundanes. "More could be coming, right?"
"Oh, don't worry about it." Luke waved off her concerns. "I got the pack on the lookout. If there's any other demons, we'll take care of them."
Clary smirked at her father figure. "Look at you, leader of the pack."
"Well, you know, it has its perks." He gave a half-ass shrug, trying to play it cool.
The redhead then turned her attention back onto the two best friends. "Shall we?"
Alec simply nodded, gesturing the two forward. "Yeah. Right."
—-------
At the New York Institute, Jace was commanding everyone. "These tunnels are swarming with Shax demons. If she's down there, it's only a matter of time before they find her. We need to make sure that doesn't happen." Getting more of his fellow people's attention, he yelled over the noise. "All right, listen up. I want this entire Institute on high alert. I don't care what anybody else says, I'll take full responsibility." At the top of the railing, Clary, Alec, and Kassidy appeared, watching Jace barking orders, needing to know if the twins were safe. "Right now, Kas and Clary are the only thing that matters."
"Snowcone?"
Spinning around at the name, Jace's shoulders fell as the tension left seeing who was at the rail. "Kas."
Neither of the two moved. It seemed like their feet were glued to the floor. For Jace it was because of everything that he said to her, the guilt had been eating him alive after they separated. His mind spitting out what if after what if.
For Kas, it was because she didn't know how to talk to him anymore. While they weren't always on the same page about things, the two respected the other's world view. But now it seemed like he didn't give a damn about hers, like it wasn't worth it to him to love her anymore.
Clary, feeling the emotion coming from the older twin, took hold of her hand. "Hey, I have something to tell you. Can we go somewhere private?"
"Yeah, course." Kas gave her a tight smile before letting Clary guide her away from everyone after a quick goodbye to the Lightwood's.
Once they were out of sight, Alec came walking down the steps, Izzy following him down after she appeared. "What the hell did you do?"
"Something stupid." He didn't bother denying it.
"Why is that suddenly a common theme." It was clear that the question Isabelle asked was meant to be rhetorical.
All Jace could do was hang his head in shame.
—-------
I don't think you guys realize how much I cry when writing the scenes between Carrot Cake and Kazzie. Like, seriously! They're bond is all I want in life!!
Also, I know that Kassidy could have just portaled everyone back to safety, but that's not nearly as fun to write.
Anywho, stay safe!
-DA
P.S only some of it has been proofread.