A/N: I've got some points to state:
1. This is gonna be a long chapter - the largest word count so far.
2. The book is about to end (Not in this chapter, but......quite soon) (So you may choose whether to feel happy about this or sad).
3. The chapter contains very sentimental and emotional speeches, thoughts, descriptions, demands, etc. Following Cassie Clare's footsteps. I'm going to make sure my readers suffer.
4. The last 2 words of this chapter are going to be directly fatal to the heart of a human being.
*repetition since last chapter*
"What was the end of the barter?" Simon questioned, but before anything Jace gasped.
Everyone looked at him, and he was staring at the ground some feet away, looking like he had seen a ghost. "Leah. The end of the barter was Leah."
"What?" Luke questioned, and Isabelle gasped. Jace however didn't have time to explain; he ran towards Leah (who was lying on the floor in her own pool of blood) and leant down before her. The others stood nearby, looking at Leah and fearing the obvious.
"Leah . . ." Jace whispered in a shaking voice. "Leah . . .it can't be."
"It is, Jace." Leah croaked, somehow yet managing to make her words sound like diamonds - beautiful and yet with painful edges. "Demons don't do favours without something in return."
There was a moment of silence, where the inhabitants of the Court reflected upon Leah's words, until finally Alec shouted at Oskino - who somehow still stood in a corner of the Court.
"So, that's what you wanted in return?! Why are you so desperate to cease her existence?! Why?! You've been torturing her since birth! What is your problem?!"
"I don't like my name and fame in this world. I want it all removed. Besides, people like her wouldn't be accepted up there in your Shadow World. At least, if she is dead, she will be accepted, excused, respected and remembered as a hero."
"Don't you dare even speak the D word! What are you even talking about?!" Alec shouted at him in anger.
"I know exactly what I am talking about, Shadowhunter. I don't simply say things to keep my mouth in exercise; I see the future and I see her's too." Oskino replied.
"Alec . . ." Leah's eyes were glistening with tears. "Let it go. Nothing can be done now. And I don't regret this decision."
"Leah, how can you say that? Don't you care about us at all?" Isabelle begged.
"I do . . . .but my fate is irreversible. If there's one thing I've learnt from being the way that I am, it is that the future is not something that one can change. Anyone." Alec sighed and turned away from Oskino, his face bitter with fury, regret, sadness and fear. Isabelle started sobbing and Jace hid his face.
"There are . . .there are some things which I needed to tell you all before . . . I go away. Alec?" Leah whispered, a faint smile on her lips. "I . . . I never told this to you, but secretly, since always, I had wished I could be your sister - your parabatai."
"You were both, Leah." He said with tears in his eyes. "Losing you is equivalent to losing both my sister and my Parabatai. With them, it is till death parts thee and me. But the mark of your existence is immortal; it burns much more prominently than any of the puny Marks of the Angel on my skin. Your face, this way, glistening with tears and smiling, shall be imprinted in my heart forever. I will never forget you."
Leah's eyes shimmered up with moisture too. "I will never forget you too." She replied in tears. "Isabelle. Sometimes the things we consider as our weak points - as our Achilles's heel - can also be used as power, as weapons, as things to strengthen us up. I had grown up with Oskino's curse, with my fatal allergy to his presence - his blood - my own blood. I had considered - we all had, in fact - that Oskino is my greatest weakness.
"But now, look how I crafted my deal with Oskino to kill Sebastian! I turned my weak point - my Achilles's heel - into a weapon, into power. Same for you. You think that giving your heart away to someone is a weakness; you think that love is a weakness. Give in, sister. Just give into your heart's demands, because your heart's unattended desires will never leave you free of agony. You will never be able to escape the constant cries of your deepest desires. Give into love. Don't think of it as something that will make you weak. Think of it as something you can use to strengthen up yourself. Love gives you the power of 2 that you never had when you were just yourself."
Isabelle burst into tears and wrapped Leah in an emotional embrace. "Please don't go away, Leah! I don't know what I'd do without you!"
"Some things you never know that you can do until you are forced to do them. I didn't know I could shape-change or turn into dust and shadows a year back from today."
When Isabelle finally let go, her eyes red and swollen, Leah turned to Magnus. "Magnus? You . . . .you might be accustomed to love and loss and death in your life, but -"
"Who said I am accustomed, Leah?" Magnus exclaimed. "It hurts every, single damned time someone I care about dies. And you . . . .you are so young! I had met you for the first time, somewhere what? a few months ago! Just a few months ago, it was like my niece was born! And now you are already leaving this world! Of course, it is not like I am dependent on you for survival! Dependency is a dangerous and stupid emotion.
"But, what am I going to say to her?! How will I face her the next time, knowing that I had watched you slip away to your death from my own eyes!? What kind of an uncle am I? Your father, he just turned into a normal shadowhunter again!! You could've lived such a pleasant life ahead with your family and your siblings! Why did you, Leah!? Why did you?"
"You're better accustomed to it than anyone else." Leah replied patiently, ignoring Magnus's cries. "Mom and dad won't blame you for what happened. What I am saying is . . . .take care of them; they might not take the news very nicely. And take care of Alec. You have been an excellent uncle, Magnus. Don't be so hard on yourself"
Leah turned to Simon. "Simon? I see you facing a lot of hardships and obstacles in the future. But you have to be strong throughout. You will have others' expectations, fame that you don't think you've earned, memories that you've forgotten, a world that you've left behind, death of a loved one. But . . . I'm sure you will be brave and awesome in your own mundane nerd way and face all those difficulties in life.
"Take care of Clary and Isabelle for me. I'm . . . I'm sorry I called you a mundane once upon a time. You are an awesome person, and you did a lot of great and amazing things."
"Leah, I don't . . . .know what to say. During a game when someone from your clan dies, you can always hit the REPLAY button, and then you start the game all over again and the person who just died is alive! But right now . . . I'm sorry, I didn't even know you very well. You were more of the Alec, Isabelle, Jace plus unknown Shadow friends clan, and less of the Clary, Jocelyn, Luke and I clan.
"But . . . .all I know that is I'm going to miss you a lot. We wouldn't be ourselves when you're gone. I . . . I don't know if this is accurate enough, but ave atque vale Leah. May you lie in peace, if not us."
Leah smiled. "I will lie in peace. I've got a whirlpool of past generation people to meet up there. Clary?" Clary kneeled down and touched Leah's head; she was aware that it was the first time she had ever thought of Leah with affection, sadness and guilt.
"Remember when you thought that I was involved with Sebastian - both, physically and in his vile plans to destroy the world?" Clary dropped her head in guilt. "I'm sorry, Leah. You were . . .a totally different character to me, then." She muttered.
"I'm not asking for your apology." Leah answered gently. "That day you saw Sebastian and I getting physical . . . .it was because he had traded information for sex. How did you think I came to know about where he resided, how to reach him and how to destroy the Endarkened race?"
Clary started crying and whispered something incomprehensible. "You have seen the dream - or rather the premonition - where Sebastian captured Jace in a Malachi Configuration. Heavenly fire was no longer a weapon available to us, that's why I summoned Oskino in my dream - where we made the deal and he agreed to kill Sebastian in return for my death.
"That was why I came to Edom. I knew this would happen all along. There was no way you would survive or manage to kill Sebastian without me. He and I are able to sense each other in this dimension, no doubt, which is why he knew exactly how close we were to his fortress. Not just that, he could perhaps also see what I saw, hear what I heard. Which was why I refrained from any kind of answer or statement that would make him think that I was about to betray or kill him."
"I am so sorry, Leah." Clary sobbed. "I had wronged you all along! I am so sorry!"
"There was a time one night at the ledge of a cliff, when you had wondered what it would be like to drop me down from there and kill me. Now, I bet no one will suffer as much from the mere guilt of the thought of murder as you would.Take care of Simon - and Jace. And, if I had ever since given you the impression of hating your guts, then you have assumed it right. I do hate you - I always have. There's no particular reason of course. It just might be the genes that Jace and I share - you know, like the way he unreasonably hates Simon. Consider our relationship similar."
Clary managed to give a laugh. "What a legitimate reason for hatred."
Leah didn't reply to that. "Clary? Can you do one more thing for me? Please take care of Emma Carstairs and the Blackthorn kids. Julian is under a lot of work pressure because of the younger kids, and Emma has lost her entire family - all in a matter of days. Please stay with her and support her. Make sure that they become Parabatai. It's my death wish."
"I will." Clary answered firmly. "Leah, you once talked about being driven insane in Edom and said that no one could relate, except him. Who were you talking about?"
"James Herondale. You wouldn't have heard of him." Leah smiled.
"Jace?" Leah turned to her brother and whispered. "Take care of your Parabatai - and Isabelle. Please; for me. All this time, I've called you, Alec and Isabelle as my siblings. Isabelle and Alec might've not been my literal siblings, but . . . .you are my brother, Jace. My half brother."
"Are you a Herondale too?" Jace asked, a tear threatening to stream down his face.
"No. I'm a Carstairs. But the woman who is my mother was also the mother to many generations of Herondales." Leah said, and Jocelyn's face whitened.
"No. No. You can't be talking about . . . .It can't be her." Apparently she had guessed Leah's mother. Leah only nodded softly, and said "Yes. It is her."
"Oh my god!" Jocelyn whispered, putting her hands over her mouth.
Leah stared up at the ceiling, and said to no one in particular "Father had always wanted me to meet my godfather. I will now. Max, . . . .remember, we never finished the tale of James Herondale. I'm coming to continue."
And saying this, Leah's lips stretched out in a sweet smile. 8 persons waited in silence and fear around her, until finally Magnus whispered defeatedly "She's gone."
This is my wrist - dedicated to one of my (beautiful) creations - Leah Ravenscar.