Jace was not very happy when Isabelle walked into Magnus' loft with Andina in her arms and then left to go let Alec know what happened. And he was definitely not happy about being forced to leave to go track down some mystery powder to save Clary's friend while his sister was nearly dead and covered in her own blood.
Andina was his sister and Clary was... well, he wasn't quite sure but he felt like his priorities lied here. Still, the look Clary gave him urged him to continue, so he nodded in agreement.
"Alright," Magnus said, frowning at the injured bodies that lay on his couches. "And I'll need Alec."
"Why do you need Alec?" Jace asked, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows. He was getting more and more annoyed by this warlock as the seconds went by.
Magnus seemed to be searching for a reason, before stating, "I need his... virgin energies."
Simon chuckled. "That explains so much."
Jace cleared his throat to stop the mundie from digging himself a deeper hole. "Uh, yeah, right."
Then he left.
°◊°◊°◊°
"No welcome home for the old man?"
Isabelle stopped in her tracks and ignored the look Alec gave her, obviously knowing that something was wrong by her behavior. She turned around and saw her father. "Daddy!" She called, hugging him.
Alec called for his little brother's attention, who was standing right next to their dad. He leaned down and pulled him in for a hug when he ran over. "What are you doing back so soon?" He asked.
Max looked down at his feet, trying to hide behind his shaggy brown hair. "I got in trouble in Mumbai," he mumbled
Alec raised an eyebrow and smirked. "What'd you do?"
"Nothing!" He insisted.
Robert chuckled, letting go of Isabelle. "Someone started a fire with his stele during rune studies," he informed them as he gave his youngest a stern look.
Isabelle giggled, walking over to greet her brother. "Max," she scolded lightly.
He puffed up his shoulders to seem smaller and innocent. "I was hungry and I was trying to draw the nourishment rune."
"Those two runes look nothing alike, Max." Alec pointed out.
"Well they do to me," he said stubbornly.
"Max," Robert called. Clearly the younger boy wasn't meant to be getting nearly as much love and attention as he was. "Go up to your room and open the Gray Book and look up the extinguish rune." When Max left, he gave his siblings a defensive motion, making them chuckle once more before Isabelle recalled why she came to speak with Alec. Alec stood and she went to speak but her father cut her off, "Where is Clary Fairchild? Your mother said she's missing."
"She's not missing, she's with Jace," Alec defended, eyes darting over to his sister when he noticed her shifting on her feet.
Robert shook his head. "We can't have that girl out of the Institute when the entire Shadow World is after her. It's a security risk, get them both back here now."
"About that," Isabelle had waited until their father was done and had walked away. Alec raised an eyebrow at her in questioning. "Andina was attacked." Her eyes flicked to the ground in the middle of the statement, something she often did when she was wary about something.
"What?"
Iz went to speak but she bit her lip. Alec's phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello?"
"Alec, it's me." Jace said.
"Jace, you need to get back to the Institute," he ordered his parabatai, walking away from Isabelle.
"Alright, I will. But I need you to do something for me."
"What? Anything."
Jace paused. "I'm fine, it's Magnus. He needs your powerful Shadowhunter energy or something like that."
"Ma-Magnus? Why does he need me?" Alec stammered, walking out into the hall.
Jace sighed. "Look, Alec... Luke's hurt, and he barely has enough magic to save his life, let alone–"
Alec blinked in confusion and held out the phone to make sure their call hadn't ended before putting it back to his ear. "Jace, what? What else is he doing?"
Something between a sigh and a groan came through the speaker and Jace's voice was tough enough to cut through brick, thick with emotion. "Andina got hurt. I thought Izzy told you."
"Is she there?"
"She's at Magnus'." Jace took a deep breath. "Please, just... I don't know what I'd do if she–"
"I'll do it. You know I'll do it, Jace."
Jace sighed once more. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks. You should probably get there soon; I gotta go."
The line went dead and Alec wanted to start running. But as he turned the corner to leave, his mother was standing in front of him.
"Come with me," she said, turning and walking deeper into the Institute.
°◊°◊°◊°
"Fuck!" Andy shouted as her eyes flew open, feeling a burst of energy to her abdomen. Let's just say that warlock magic wasn't usually painless, especially in large amounts.
But she felt it get weaker, whether that was a good or a bad thing, she wasn't coherent enough to tell. Demon venom was still coursing through her veins and she wasn't quite sure where she was or who was talking or how she was still alive.
"Valentine," Andina managed to groan, not really trying. She was seeing blurry figures and was feeling massive amounts of pain, her thoughts being twisted. She thought she was captured.
She barely heard a "what?" and saw a flash of orange before her eyes shut again.
°◊°◊°◊°
"Dad, why does Jace get to have a pet?" Andina asked her father as she watched her brother play with his Falcon. They weren't even teenagers yet, still living at home on the Wayland manor in Idris.
Her father looked down at her, a glint of anger in his eyes. "Because he has yet to learn."
"Learn what?" She had abandoned her books and given her full attention to the man.
Jace laughed loudly, letting the bird fly and seeing it come back quickly.
A sharp snap was heard, and she looked to see a pencil shattered in her father's grip. "That to love is to destroy. And to be loved is to be the one destroyed."
"But you love us, don't you, Dad?"
Her father smiled and ruffled her hair, before standing from his chair on the porch and walking out into the yard, towards Jace.
"Put its blindfold back on," he ordered.
Jace furrowed his eyebrows. "But–"
"Put it on!" He shouted down at the younger boy. Jace was quick to comply and went back to playing with the bird, but clearly not enjoying it as much. Andina watched her father come back and sat with him for another fifteen minutes, because after that, Jace was discouraged and wanted to put the bird away.
°◊°◊°◊°
"I'll hold on as long as I can!" Andina heard the next time she woke up with gripping pain in her abdomen. It felt like she had woken from the dead but she felt a little more sure about her situation, rolling her head over to see Magnus hovering over her.
"Magnus!" A voice that made her furrowed her sweaty brows and close her eyes to focus on shouted. It sounded like Alec, but she might be hallucinating.
Her head lolled back in forth with the pain, not even trying to hold in any moans of protest. She opened her eyes and saw the warlock fall to the ground, but a raven boy swooped in to catch him, letting Magnus lean against him.
"Take what you need," the man told the warlock
She faintly heard voices shouting that they got something, and a mention of someone else injured, but she was too weak to pay attention. Eventually her breathing began to even and the ripping feeling that was on fire across her stomach was not as prevalent.
The warlock stepped back, weakly getting up and going to do something with purpose. Alec, also weakened by the magic, fell forward and leaned against the couch.
"Alec," Andy whispered.
"Hey," he muttered. "Don't do whatever the hell you did to get this, again." He told her as he looked towards her stomach.
She chuckled before wincing. "An iratze would be nice," she suggested, earning a incredulous look from him.
"You didn't even–"
"I was bitten in the stomach by a Ravener, so no, Alec, I didn't exactly have time to rune myself before I passed out."
"Weak," a voice muttered softly, and she felt a hand on her forehead, pushing away sweaty hair. She looked up and saw Jace leaning over the arm of the couch that her head was resting on. She glared at him playfully but was admittedly too weak to hit his head like she wanted to.
"You're right. Clary probably lasted longer than I did."
Andina glanced over and saw Magnus' other couch(he must have added one in between her last visit and now) contained Luke Garroway, now in recovery.
"I didn't think you'd make it," Magnus told Andy, grabbing her attention. Jace took that time to walk over to Clary and Simon, while Alec just kept his eyes between the two of them.
Another painful chuckle bubbled out of her throat. "I get the feeling that I mean a lot to you," she joked.
Magnus' smile fell. "You do," he said. "Both of you."
Andy closed her eyes with a smile too fast to see the anger engraved in Alec's face, thinking of the reason his mother had delayed his arrival to help Magnus.
Because he thought that Andina had told him he could like someone. Anyone.
And he was to be married.