« 27—REUNION »
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Talia's eyes rested on Alec's form as his eyelids flitted in his coma-like condition.
His dark hair was wet, stuck to his sweat lathered forehead as he lay on the chair in Magnus' apartment.
She trailed her fingers over the crevices of his hand, created from years of fighting demons. Biting her lip, she looked up to see Izzy walk into the room, giving her a sad smile before kneeling down beside where the older girl sat on the floor.
Izzy had brought them to Magnus' through the portal he had created, Talia had been told, Jace had carried her through and allowed Magnus to heal her as quickly as possible. Once she had regained consciousness, she had immediately sought out Alec and hadn't left his side since.
Her injuries had not fully healed as she had told Magnus to help Jace first; his time with the werewolves not faring him well, so a red ring of raw skin still surrounded her neck as dried blood covered her skin.
"Alec."
Jace's breath hitched as he slowly entered the room, kneeling down on the opposite side of his parabatai. He gripped Alec's hand tightly in his, a gold glow surrounding their fingertips as Jace began reciting the words spoken in a parabatai ritual.
"Entreat me not to leave thee or to return from following after thee."
Alec jolted, his breath caught in his throat as the stone that was clasped in Alec's palm, that Talia had placed her hand over, dropped to the ground. Talia's eyes widened as she looked up at Jace, watching as his eyes moved to the stone and then up to meet hers, shock written in his features.
"What's happening?" Izzy asked quietly.
"He's slipping," Magnus said, his brown eyes shifting to Talia before moving to her and gently pulling her up and over to where Izzy and Clary stood as she shook her head.
Alec wheezed as Jace gripped his hand tighter, "Thy people will be my people, thy God will be my God.
When thou diest, I will die.
And there will I be buried.
The Angel do so to me."
The stone glowed dimmer as Alec exhaled deeply, his head sliding down the pillow until it rested, unmoving. Talia felt her heart drop as she watched Jace wrap his arms around his friend, cradling his lifeless body into him.
She turned to Isabelle, her eyes clouded over as she looked at her brother. Talia looked up at the ceiling, not wanting the tears to fall down her face before looking back at the pair.
"And more also..." Jace's breath hitched as he cried, "If aught but death part thee and me."
"Please don't leave me, Alec."
The desperation in her friend's voice made Talia break down her walls and allow the tears fall, feeling the cold trickle before they rolled over her lips and onto her chin, leaving a salty and bitter taste as she pulled her lips into her mouth.
"If aught but death part thee and me."
Her breath caught in her throat as Alec spoke weakly, his eyes fluttering open as Jace laid him carefully back down against the seat before laughing slightly and pulling him into a hug.
Talia smiled as the others moved forward, ready for the next round of embraces just as a man she did not recognise stalked into the room.
"Jace Wayland," The man pronounced, a legion of Shadowhunters following behind him, "You are hereby sentenced to the City of Bones to await trail for the charge of high treason and aiding Valentine in the war against the Clave."
The dark blonde raised an eyebrow as she moved to step between Jace and the unfamiliar man, a defensive stance visible across her features.
"Wait, what the hell is going on?" Alec raised himself in the seat, his eyes widening as he spotted the girl sat beside him, "Talia?"
Talia gave him a slight wave before turning around to glare at the man in front of her.
"I second that, and secondly who the hell even are you?"
"I am Victor Aldertree, the new head of the New York Institute," He explained, eyeing her carefully.
Talia was unfazed, "Well, you're still not taking Jace, he hasn't done anything wrong and if you even try to convince me otherwise I will get that lamp and stick it so far up your-"
"Talia."
She raised an eyebrow at Jace and his timing for interrupting her. The blonde sighed before turning his head to look at Alec who looked extremely confused, "It'll be alright, Alec. All that matters is you're back."
Jace walked forward, "Don't worry about it, Talia, just work on getting yourself better."
He allowed two of Aldertree's entourage to take his arms and lead him from the building as the head of the Institute turned to her.
"So you're Talianna Herondale, I should've guessed from your stubbornness. However, the reason you're not currently joining him is because of how your departure was marked as sacrificial rather than you cooperating with Valentine willingly, don't make me think otherwise."
He turned his back, not giving time for the girl to give a snappy remark before leaving the premises.
Talia growled lowly as she turned back to her friends, "He annoys me, that lamp has his name on it."
Magnus frowned, "That lamp is an antique from 1890 so I'd rather you didn't use it to do that."
She looked up to see that his face showed very little signs of seriousness to his statement. The blonde turned to Clary who had her eyes glued to the door where Jace had just been towed away.
"He'll be fine, don't worry, he'll be out of there before you know it."
Clary turned to her and gave her a small smile, "If not, are you going to turn into a werewolf again?"
"You did what?"
Talia jumped as she heard Alec's voice directly behind her, his piercing blue eyes questioning her as she twisted her head round slowly, giving him a sheepish grin.
"Huh, I was wondering if that trait was going to present itself at some point," Magnus muttered, brushing his fingers against his chin.
"Yeah, how did you do that by the way?" Izzy asked, a grin regaining it's way onto her face as she looked at her flustered friend.
Alec gave her a pointed look as she began waving her hands around frantically, "Erm, I can explain."
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The sky was clear that night as Talia and Alec sat on Magnus' roof, their legs dangling over the edge as Talia pointed constellations out to him.
"And that one is Cassiopeia."
Alec's eyes followed to where she was pointing before looking back down at her face, tracing the outlines of her features into his memory as she looked entranced by the stars above her.
His lips tilted up as she turned to him, a wide grin on her face. He had wanted to talk to her without the ears of everyone else around them, but also to distract them both from what was out of their hands in the terms of getting Jace back.
"You sure know a lot about space."
Talia nodded enthusiastically, her cheeks flushing as she smiled brightly as she continued to explain, "Yeah, I loved going up onto the roof of the loft, to note down the planets and stars I might have seen and then be able to find out more using the books I borrowed from the library. It was a way to get away from everything else, I guess, since nobody wanted to join me."
The raven haired boy noticed a frown appear on her face as she began to think of the 'everything else' which he knew alluded to Jocelyn. He reached forward and tilted her chin up and met her green-blue eyes with his.
"You can talk to me about space any time."
A small smile rose to her face as she leant against his hand. She sat quietly for a moment, only listening to the breaths Alec took every few seconds.
Her eyes grew distant as she spoke again, "I don't know how I'm going to react when I see her again."
Alec stroked her cheek with his thumb, whilst pushing his hair back with his other hand, "You don't have to see her if you don't want to."
She shrugged, "It's bound to happen at some point. I'll be resentful, I know that."
"Because she shot you?" Alec asked, scrunching his face up at the thought of that moment. Talia shook her head and sat up.
"Because she hurt you and I couldn't do anything about it."
Alec's eyes widened as he stared at her, the serious look on Talia's face never faltered. He saw the small breeze lifting wisps of dark blonde hair across her face and the scattering of ginger freckles across her nose and the flecks of golf within her irises that he hadn't noticed before and his heart began to thump loudly in his chest as he began to realise what was happening to him.
Talia had no time to process what he was doing before his lips were pressed on hers. Eyes fluttering shut, she savoured the feeling of Alec kissing her, his lips soft and gentle against hers as the worry about him pulling away because of her chapped and bitten lips ebbed away as she kissed him back sweetly.
Her fingers moved to play with the collar of his shirt before moving up and winding into his unkempt hair, playing with the soft ends. Alec hummed against her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her waist, as though trying to stop her from being taken from him again. He ran his fingers up her spine, making her shiver as she pulled herself closer to him.
Suddenly, the door to the roof swung open and Magnus stood in the doorway, grinning widely, as Talia broke away from Alec and flushed a bright red that she was sure Magnus would tease her about later.
"I didn't realise you were going to lose your virgin Shadowhunter energies up here."
Alec choked on thin air as Talia gaped at the warlock, "What? Magnus, no."
He chuckled, "We're leaving for the Institute soon, so just do whatever you have to do."
Magnus waved his hands dramatically before closing the door and going back downstairs. Talia huffed and planted her head on Alec's chest as he regained his composure and stopped coughing.
"He's a weird dad," Talia mumbled, her voice muffled in Alec's shirt as he smiled down at her.
"I missed you and your commentary."
She looked up and almost sighed at how pretty his face was when covered in a flushed pink look, "Thank you, I work very hard to be an entertainer."
The taller boy chuckled before standing up and pulling her along with him. He jumped down from the wall and offered his hand to her, she smiled and took it, letting him guide her to the door.
"I missed you too."
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