Oh geez, I'm late again. Work has gotten so busy now that the holidays are getting so close, and unfortunately, it's not going to get any better until New Year's is over. However, next week I have finals and then I'm done with classes for about a month so that'll free up a little bit of time. But I'm doing my best guys! I swear!
But, there's some cute scenes in here, whether you're a fan of her and Jace's romantic relationship, or her sibling relationship with Alec, I've got a scene for each of you! I hope you enjoy them.
Huge thank you to @sereneur who did an incredible job with the typography below! This one is quite possible my all time favorite that they have made for me so far!
Celeste had made sure that the entrance to the institute was in her sights as she did her work in Ops so that as soon as everyone got back she'd know it. When the door finally opened and the group came in, she was a little surprised by the expressions on everyone's faces.
Jace and Alec both looked angry about something, Clary looked very scared and nervous, and Izzy seemed to be conflicted about something, probably somewhere in between the two sides of what Celeste assumed was an argument between the two boys.
"I still don't understand. How can Shadowhunters be better than... than what you people call mundanes?" She heard Clary asked as she quickly made her way over to them.
"We aren't." Celeste answered before any of the others could. When all of them had turned their attention to her she continued, "Now who wants to fill me in on what I missed?"
"The girl is Valentine's daughter." Alec spat as he glared at the girl in question.
Jace crossed his arms over his chest, obviously feeling similar to his parabatai on the matter.
This explained the expressions on everyone's faces now. But Celeste's reaction to this news was unlike anyone else's.
She smacked Jace and Alec, since they were the ones closest to her. When they looked at her in confusion, she explained.
"Shame on you guys!" She scolded. "We can't choose who our parents are! And besides, it sounds to me like she can only ever remember having Jocelyn in her life. She doesn't even remember Valentine, if she ever met him at all. And may I remind you that we don't know who my parents are either? For all we know, they could have been some of Valentine's most loyal followers. And if they were, would you blame me for that? Of course not. So why would you blame Clary for it?"
Before anyone could even begin to come up with a response to that, she looked around the group and noticed that there was someone missing.
"Where's Simon?"
"He got kidnapped by vampires." Clary said anxiously.
Celeste realized that her assumption for why Clary seemed so upset may have been incomplete. While she was certainly upset about who her real father was, the majority of her panic was probably geared more towards her missing friend.
"He was what?" Celeste's eyes widened and she turned towards her friends for a more complete answer.
"They left Simon all alone in a van." Clary spat angrily. "Great job guys. You rock."
"There is some truth to the idea that human beings should have a modicum of common sense." Alec drawled.
Celeste hit him once again. "Al!"
Jace scolded him too, seeing his girlfriend getting pretty worked up about it. "Alec, not now." He turned to Clary and tried to reassure her that her friend would be fine. "Look, they won't do anything to Simon. They just wanted to draw you out. They want the Cup, and they think you have it."
"But why do they think that? Why does anyone think that? What, my mom lies to me my entire life except, 'Oh, by the way there's this magic cup I hid on like, the planet Bongo, but don't tell anyone'." She sighed heavily, slumping a little with the weight of the situation. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"We have to report to the Clave." Alec said.
"Great." Jace said sarcastically.
"They have to know what we've learned about Valentine." He continued, as if he hadn't heard Jace.
"What, that he's my father? Great. Fine. Tell them. What good does that do Simon?" Clary asked quickly.
"Clary, it's all connected." Jace explained, trying to get her to see the big picture. "The vamps want the Cup."
Clary was still confused about the vampires' reasoning. "Why? It creates new Shadowhunters."
"It's the most important object in the Shadow World. The Downworlders don't trust Shadowhunters to keep track of it since they almost lost it to Valentine once already." Celeste said, being one of the few people to actually look at the situation from the vampires' perspective.
"Nobody wants Valentine forming an army loyal to himself." Alec said.
Izzy nodded and added, "Plus it controls demons."
"They'll propose a trade." Jace summed up. "Simon for the Cup."
"So vampire will trade Simon for the Cup, and Valentine will trade my mother for the Cup. Either way I lose someone I love." At this point, Clary was so emotional that she wasn't thinking logically and just threw out the first solution she thought of. "What if I just toss it up in the air and let them fight it out amongst themselves?"
Celeste's eye immediately shot towards Alec, knowing that he wouldn't take that very well.
"So this doesn't matter to you?" He demanded.
"Yes, of course it matters." Clary closed her eyes trying to get herself together again. Each word she said next was meticulously thought out, knowing that if she were to say the wrong thing, Alec would just get even more upset and he would be less likely to help her find Simon. "Listen... When you saved my life... I put my trust in you. Now I need you to put your trust in me. I can't turn into what you are overnight."
Celeste nodded and looked to the others with pleading eyes, begging them to agree to help her.
Izzy was the first to give in. "It's true. She was raised as a mundane."
"What are you, her spokesman now?" Alec asked rudely.
"I don't need a spokesman, I need a plan." Clary said and stormed away into Ops.
Everyone went to follow her, but before Alec could follow, Celeste grabbed his hand to stop him.
He turned around and pulled his hand out of her grasp, crossing his arms over his chest, still upset about recent events. "What?"
She frowned at his attitude. "Al, I know you don't like the situation, nor do you like Clary or Simon. But you do like me, and keeping people safe is something that's important to me. You know that. So please, at least try to see that side. Once you understand that side you can make your own decision."
Alec sighed. "I know. But we can't keep breaking rules like this. That's all we've done since this girl got here."
Celeste nodded and leaned into the boy she considered to be her older brother. "I know. And we'll certainly face consequences for it later. But I firmly believe that the consequences that we face can be no worse than this innocent mundane losing his life simply for wanting to stand beside his best friend during a difficult time in her life."
Alec seemed to be giving into her soft words and her logic. And the tight and familiar hug she was giving him probably helped too. "I'll try to consider it for your perspective, but I make no promises."
She nodded and looked up at him with a soft smile, her deep brown eyes showing all of her emotions openly, just as they usually were around those closest to her. "Thank you Al, that's all I ask." They started to go to join the others when she stopped and had a thought. "You don't have to answer this, but just consider it... What would you do if it was me? What would you do if it was me who had been kidnapped?"
"You wouldn't have let that happen. You know how to take care of yourself. You've proved that more than enough times."
She shook her head. "With the way I was feeling earlier, it certainly could have been me." She paused before continuing. "Clary feels the same way about Simon that you feel about me. She considers him to be family, even if they aren't blood related. It's really not so different."
She let him think about that on his own and walked away, not giving him a chance to respond verbally because she didn't need to hear it to know what his answer would be. She already knew that he wouldn't hesitate for a second to save her if she was in Simon's position right now.
When she joined the others with Alec just a few yards behind her, they had just figured out where to find Simon.
"They're at the Hotel DuMort, down on Gansevoort Street." Jace said.
"And we came back here? Why? We have to go there!" Clary exclaimed. "Let's go, now. Come on."
"We need a Clave resolution for that." Alec said, joining the group as well.
"The four of us can't declare war on the vamps all by ourselves." Izzy agreed.
"Five." Celeste corrected, knowing that it was her who was being left out of the count, not Clary.
Jace's eye shot over toward her in slight panic. "No. Not happening. You aren't coming."
"Yes I am." She said seriously.
"Not so soon after how sick you were looking earlier. You're staying here, where it's safe." Jace repeated.
"You don't get to tell me what to do. I'm fine now. And besides, you're going to need everyone you can get when you go in to save Simon, and you don't exactly have a whole lot of other options." She gestured subtly to the other Shadowhunters around them who would certainly get them all in trouble before they were able to rescue Simon.
Alec was getting tired of their argument, so he interjected in order to end it. "Look, this argument doesn't even matter because we aren't going to raid a vampire nest at all. We can't react without considering our options. Downwolders are slaves to their impulses. We're not."
Celeste hit Alec again, but it was Izzy who spoke up.
"Alec, you can't just jump on all the Downworlders."
"Oh, that's right. Seelies have their charms apparently." He joked.
"Not just Seelies. All Downworlders. You can't blame the actions of the few on the whole group." Celeste said wisely.
"'Seelies'?" Clary asked confused.
"Like faeries. The Fair Folk. Add pixies, nixies, elves... Anybody half angel, half demon. It's pretty much a catch all term." Jace explained.
"Izzy can tell you all about them. She's got a thing." Alec continued with his teasing.
"We've all got our things, don't we?" Izzy came back with, without missing a beat.
This made Celeste look down at her feet, knowing exactly what Izzy was referring to. She wasn't blind, nor was she stupid. She was well aware of Alec's feelings for her boyfriend, and it already made her feel guilty enough without it being brought up.
Before she could dwell on it much longer, Clary spoke up again. "Okay, I can't listen to this. Simon's been kidnapped by vampires. I guess I'll just take care of it myself." She said and stormed off.
Celeste went after her and stopped her by grabbing her wrist before she could get too far. "Clary wait. Without a plan, you'll only get yourself killed, and probably Simon too."
"Then help me. While we consider other options, my best friend is suffering." She said, stomping back over to the group and leaning her hands against that table in front of them. "Is that something Shadowhunters understand, or am I just being a mundane?"
"Clary's right." Jace spoke up. "They made the first move. We're gonna take care of this ourselves, right now."
"This is a bad idea. I--"
"What, have you got a better one?" Jace cut Alec off. "Look, the vamps broke the Accords. They kidnapped a mundie. That's a big no-no. The Clave will give us a lecture and then they'll be glad we did it. Come on."
"Hard to argue with that." Izzy conceded.
When Alec still looked like he was going to argue, Celeste took it into her own hands. "Think about Simon for a second. I know you don't like him, nor do you like any mundanes, but it is our job as Shadowhunters to keep them safe from the things in the Shadow World. Us going to save Simon is part of our job. I too would prefer to get permission from the Clave for the mission, but we don't have time. Every second that we spend waiting for the Clave's permission is a second that the vampires could be doing something to him. We need to get there as soon as possible."
Alec finally seemed to be giving in, but he was still looking for any reason he could not to go along with the plan. "Even if we went ahead, I don't see how we get out of here without having to explain where we're going. We need weapons, and we can't let anyone see us get them."
Jace looked a little smug as he answered. "I know where to get what we need."
They all went to follow Jace when he suddenly stopped and noticed that Celeste was following along with them too.
"Woah, I thought we talked about this. You aren't coming."
She put her hands on her hips trying to look intimidating and sent him a slight glare, but knowing her personality, Jace didn't find it intimidating in the least.
"Yes I am. I'm not just going to sit around here twiddling my thumbs while you guys risk your lives infiltrating a nest full of vampires."
Jace closed his eyes, trying to figure out what he could possibly say to change her mind. In the end, he went with being completely honest and trying to pull on her heartstrings, knowing that it was his best shot. But he did so quietly because he hated showing emotion and weakness in front of others.
He cupped her face in his hands to be sure that she'd see the truth in his eyes as he said each word. "Celeste, I just worry about you. If anything were to happen to you, I don't think I could live with myself. The whole time I'll be distracted with worry for you. Especially after what happened earlier tonight. Seeing you look so sick tonight and still wanting to go on the mission really scared me." He admitted to her softly. "I love you."
She smiled softly and leaned up on her tiptoes to give him a quick kiss on the lips. "I love you too Jay. And I know exactly how you feel. I feel that way when we go on more dangerous missions, but I always remind myself that it's our love for each other that'll cause us to fight harder to come back to each other." She kissed him on the nose playfully. "And besides, I think I've proved often enough that I can take care of myself out in the field." She grinned widely.
Jace sighed but gave in. "Fine." He said, and pulled her into a tight hug, mumbling the rest into the top of her head. "Just promise me you'll be careful."
"Only if you promise the same."
"Deal."
Aww! There were a few cute scenes in this one that I enjoyed writing. I hope you guys enjoyed it too.
Once again, I don't really have a whole lot to say about this chapter, but what I can tell you is that the next one contains a scene that might just be one of my favorites in the whole book that I've written so far. Or it's at least up there.
As for the question of the chapter, I've got a really good one for you this time so that I can get to know you guys a little better:
Of all the characters in the series, who do you relate the most to and why?
As usual, I'd love to hear more from you guys about what you think of the story so far. It makes my day to see your usernames pop up in my notifications whenever I finally get the chance to sign on.
Hopefully I'll update on time this time around! I'll do my best!
Next Planned Update: December 15th, 2017