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Space & Time Continuum
Time Traveling Ship
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"And here come tweedle dee and tweedle dumb." Khiron let out a long sigh, annoyed at their simple sight. "Where are your fathers? I know they're plotting something against me, I'm not dumb." Jonathan and Leith shared a confused look. The time traveler snarled. Of course those two knew nothing of their fathers' plan. Pinching the bridge of his nose, the doppelgänger tried to mentally convince himself not to kill the two of them right there. "Alright kids." He reopened his eyes, clasping his hands together. "Listen carefully." The two blond stood straighter, adopting a parade rest position. Khiron almost grinned. Obeying was engrained in them. At least they'd been taught well. "I have a mission tailor made for each of you." He smirked. "Murder." He clasped his hands together, leaning back in his chair. "You see, with all this meddling with the timelines, the Bureau of United Agencies... Or something. Whatever they call themselves these day." He rolled his eyes. "They decided to strike back. To fix the mess before it becomes an alteration anchored in time. Which, I agree with to a certain extent. But my methods are a little bit more... Let's settle for final." The two blond had gotten the message by now. They needed to eliminate the alterations to the timelines. How though? "You see, those alterations are heavily tied to your sisters." Khiron spoke, growing more blunt. "You know what that means. I'm not heartless though. That's why I'm going to ask you." He gestured at Leith. "To kill his sister. And vice versa." The two blond swallowed thickly but nodded. "Good." He turned on two screens on a large wall behind him. "It's fairly simple. We'll start by the past, okay? See, Lucie is at a party with some blond that you might recognize, Jonathan. I think people believe he's the... Better you?" He chuckled. "Anyway, that is your target. Make sure Jace doesn't see you. I'd hate to have to clean behind you. You're out of chances. Failure is not an outcome you want to face." The demon blooded male nodded. "As for Clary, she is at a restaurant. Filled with werewolves." Khiron grinned. "Heard you had a lovely experience with those in Beacon Hills, Leith." The younger male's face remained neutral. "Do it fast, do it quick, do it clean. No funny business. Nobody can know who it was." The mortal nodded. "Good. Now out of my sight you two. I'm feeling nauseous standing in same room as failure for so long. Next time smell like success because without victory, you're as good as dead to me." The two male left the room to retrieve their weapons.
Alternative Past, New York
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"Jace!" Lucie awkwardly elbowed his arm without doing any harm. "That's him." She gestured at a male with thin traits with sharp cheekbones and full lips. His ears were full of different earrings, their gold a stark contrast against the black of his long, wavy hair. He looked beautiful.
"Sure he's not a seelie?" Jace asked, furrowing his brows.
Lucie nodded. "He just likes to cultivate a certain genre. You have no idea all the things he can do with those long nimble fingers of his. It's freaky." She cleared her throat. "Not that it currently matters. Just let me do the talking and assume all he says is a lie." Jace nodded, used to being a soldier. Lucie marched ahead of him, heading straight to their target with far more confidence than she had seconds ago and a glowing expression on her face.
"A. Co. Nite." Blaze spoke, grinning as he lowered his glasses. "Didn't knew you were in town."
She chuckled. "Liar."
He laughed, leaning back in his chair. "You know me too well. Though to be honest, I truly did not know that you mosquito bites had turned into juicy mangoes." He spoke, giving her a once over.
She crossed her arms over her chest and rose a defying brow. "People grow. Did you?"
He threw his head back, unamused. "Could you tell your goon to come closer so I could take a good look at his weapons?"
She sighed. "He's not wearing any. I carry my own and he's just distraction."
The dark haired male rose an eyebrow. "For whom?"
Lucie wet her bottom lip, moving closer to Jace and slipping her hand in his. She led him forward. "Jace, let me introduce you to Blaze. Blaze, let me introduce you to Jace, my current companion."
Blaze gave the blond a rather thorough one over. "Well, that's company I wouldn't mind sharing for a little while. Shame he's a Shadowhunter." He completely removed his glasses, revealing eyes that faintly glowed a greenish yellow. "You guys have runes for everything don't you?" He inquired, a sharp nail trailing along one on Jace's chest. Satisfied, his lips pursed up, mouth slightly open as he focused on Lucie. "You're one of them now?" He asked, his curiosity piqued as a noticed a mark on the female's neck.
She chuckled. "As if."
Blaze rose an eyebrow. "I don't know, you tell me. You walk into a party with runes on your body and a Shadowhunter. What idea am I supposed to get?"
She sighed. "I need your help."
He hummed appreciatively at the words. "I love hearing those words coming out of such a pretty mouth. What can I do for you, Light?" She grew closer to him, taking a seat in the deck chair next to his. Jace stood behind her, arms crossed. "At ease soldier, no need to already point out your biggest guns at me." Blaze spoke, grinning.
Lucie rolled her eyes. "I need to know where I can find the nearest Traveler."
Blaze laughed. "Hum yeah, sure. Would you like his exact GPS coordinate or would you settle for an old fashion address?" Jace's turn to roll his eyes.
"Well, I mean, if you propose, I'll take the coordinates..."
The Passling grew serious. "It's gonna be a no. I don't give that out for free and you have nothing I could possibly want."
She tilted her head to the side, smirking just a little. "Untrue."
He furrowed his brows. "What do you have to offer, Traveler?" She opened the front pocket backpack she'd been clutching onto, and extracted a vial containing a short and glowing golden thread. "Ariadne's Thread." The male spoke, eyes widening.
"A sample, more accurately." Lucie spoke, shaking it in front of his face. "Like what you see?"
"Very." He grinned. "You know I snort this faster than fairy dust."
She chuckled. "Found it somewhere in a creek in Gulf of Kerme."
The Passling furrowed his brows. "Keramos. I should've known."
She smiled. "The rest is safe of course. Want that bit?" She asked. He nodded, reaching out but she pulled away. "A name and an address. Now." He sighed but snapped his fingers and a blond, who apparently was a warlock, conjured an ink pen and paper for him. He wrote specific coordinates, eyes glowing, before he added a name and a regular address. Lucie took it, read it and handed it to Jace before giving Blaze the vial.
Instantaneously, the thread turned into a regular, grey dust. The male sighed. "Guess my heart will never be pure or disinterested enough." He chuckled and opened it before sniffing the dust in a long inhale. His eyes started to glow, a bright yellow that seem to diffuse along the veins of his body for a few seconds. "Oh that feels good. Always a pleasure to make some business with you, Light." He held out a hand to shake. Lucie shook it and stood up.
"Did he just snort ashes of a greek myth's artifact? Did that really happen?" Jace asked, brows furrowed as they moved away from the man.
Lucie chuckled. "Says the guy who speaks to angels and has tattoos that enhance his natural abilities."
He chuckled. "I'll give you that. But still, why?"
Lucie sighed. "Passling don't produce magic, they have a nose that allows them to track it and follow it. An instinct particularly sharp for what is out of place. And seen as we, Traveler exist out of any timeline, we always smell out of place. That's how they can know. However, they need magic to fuel them and sharpen that instinct and turn a sensation into an acute perception of our location. Fairy dust does the trick just fine. Weed too, if you're experienced enough. But Ariadne's thread is the most concentrated power they can absorb because it's about guidance and that's exactly what they need." Jace nodded, still a little perplexed but absorbing the information.
Neither of the two noticed the figure cloaking themselves in the shadow that had been following them for a while. Not before a blade made contact with Lucie's throat and sliced it open. Nice and clean. Just as instructed. Jace had considered going after the aggressor but Lucie's hand had firmly gripped his arm. "T-t-ttt-too la-t-tuh." She choked out, a hand holding her throat. Blood heavily poured out, marring her fingers. The panic created by the event had ended the party, people were screaming left and right. And as chaos ensued, the assassin easily disappeared in the crowd. Jace caught Lucie as her body gave in. He watched, helpless, as she heaved a last, painful sigh. He watched the life ebb away from her eyes. He watched, silent and hopeless before closing her eyes. He then looked around and noticed that the place was empty. Numbly, he reached for her backpack, sought out his phone and called Alec, still clutching her lifeless body against his chest, head against his heart.
"Yes?" Alec answered, worry in his voice.
"It's over, she's." Jace blinked. "She's dead."
Alec sighed deeply. "Where are you right now? Still at the party?"
Jace blinked away tears that threatened to spill. "Yes." He answered, far too mechanically and hollow for it to be reassuring for his brother.
"Alright, we're coming. Just, wait." Jace hung up and his chin started to tremble, silent tears rolling down his cheeks.
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Leith had been waiting for Clary to walk out for a while now. He'd observed her through the blinds of the restaurant. She was just there, talking with an older, black man and eating what looked a lot like dumplings. His stomach growled. The blond ignored it. Is it truly what Shadowhunters spent their days doing? Surely she had an occupation of some sort. After all, when he'd firstly arrived she was animatedly talking with a girl about something. The girl was a werewolf. Leith could smell the animal stench on her as they entered the restaurant. It had almost made him retch. But stealth mission obliged, he remained silent about his repugnance.
Finally, the redhead stood up and hugged the man, who gave her a light squeeze with his right arm. They shared a smile before she headed towards the exit. All the while, the man watched her leave with a certain fondness in his gaze. Leith narrowed his eyes, jaw clenching a bit at the expression he observed. He couldn't quite pinpoint why, but it irked him to witness that. Shaking his head, he focused back on the redhead who was about to walk out the door. He waited for her to reach his level before he wrapped a firm hand around her wrist and dragged her toward his chest. He deftly gave her a whiplash, preventing her from reacting further. She fell onto her knees, before falling forward, face first. Her body very silently hit the pavement. The blond then dug out a blade. He rarely used those but he needed to ensure she couldn't be saved. So he then sank the blade in a very specific spot of her back, where one could stab to pierce both the spine and the heart at the same time. Then Leith drew out the blade. Sighing, he wiped the blood on his blade, using a monogrammed handkerchief that he shoved back in his pocket. Afterwards, he simply sheathed the blade and kneeled next to the body. He rummaged through her pockets, sought out for her phone and called the last person she'd contacted. She'd already died alone, better someone come and fetch that body soon. More painful and discreet if it's someone she knows. Surely shadowhunters didn't want their business all over the news. Once he heard a girl's voice say 'Clary?' He threw the phone on the ground and stomped on it before walking away, whistling to himself.
Current Present, New York
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Lucie had been having a seizure, parts of her body randomly shaking for a few seconds before a specific one would jerk up. She'd also been struggling to breath. Adrian had thrown a pillow on the ground and laid her down on her side while she went through it. She was struggling to breath and it was worrying the male who was loosely holding her.
When the same thing started to happen to Clary, Simon started to panic. "Simon, Simon, hey, listen." The vampire swallowed, unable to tell who the voice belonged to. "SIMON!" A male voice yelled. "She's holding onto you, she's trusting you right now." The male added. "Stop trying to see me, listen to my voice okay? Nod if you can." The daylighter nodded. "Good. Now Jace is going to take off his jacket and fold it on the ground in front of you, alright?" Jace did as he was instructed as Simon searched for the blond in his periphery. "You can see Jace, right?" Simon nodded, still lost as Clary trembled in his arms. "Good. Now you're going to pick Clary up carefully, don't try to hold her still." Simon instinctively stood up, letting the voice guide him. "Perfect. Now you're going to lay her down with her head on the jacket." Simon swallowed. "H-how?" "On her side. Lay her down, slowly." He obeyed, disregarding the arm hitting him. "Good. Now hold her, don't try to stand in the way of any of her movements. Just hold her." The male obeyed, kneeling next to Clary and holding her close. A sigh of relief was heard. Simon sought for the voice and found Adrian kindly smiling at him. "You did good. It's particularly impressive the first time, huh?" Simon nodded, swallowing hard. "My sister had a lot of those." Adrian informed, glancing at Magnus and Alec who stood, perplexed. Jace was behind them, looking grim.
Slowly, Lucie seemed to calm down and started to normally breath again. She started to react, a little dazed still. "Hi." She rasped out. Adrian smiled down at her. "Hey there, care to explain what happened." Lucie let out a breath and nodded. "I," She blinked, vision blurring with the tears welling in his eyes. "I died, I think. Or a past me." She swallowed with difficulty.
"Alright, just breathe." The male helped her sit up, back against a couch. " I'll get you some water, okay?" She nodded. He gave her hand a light squeeze before letting go.
"I'll show you the way to the kitchen." Magnus spoke, bringing a hand to the male's back and leading Adrian out of the room.
Clary came back to her senses a couple of minutes later. Her hands shot to her neck, in a desperate attempt to protect herself from an attack she knew inevitable. "Hey, hey, hey." Simon tightened his grip around a sobbing and shaking Clary. "It's okay, Fray, I've got you." She heaved a sigh of relief and fell against him, exhausted. "It felt..." She frowned, tears welling in her eyes. "So real." Simon pulled her into a proper hug. "You're okay, you're okay, you're okay." He whispered soothingly. "I promise you, you're okay right now.." She silently sobbed in his arms for a few minutes. Dry tears and choked out sobs she tried her hardest to keep for herself.
Space and Time Continuum,
Time Traveling Ship
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"Well, boys, that was," Khiron cleared his throat. "decent." The two blond nodded, smiling just a bit at the crumb of a praise. "It's not over though. From now on, the two of you will be directly taking your orders from me, understood?" The two nodded. Now Khiron was genuinely wondering why he brought his doppelgängers in when he could've just settled for their sons. Who are far more efficient and eager to obey. All they needed were kernels of appreciation. How plebeian.