The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy
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I stop what I'm doing when I hear a sound coming from behind me. I turn around to see a man just standing in the main area of the Institute. I can immediately tell that he's a mundane because of his clothing. He's wearing dark blue jeans with a blue shirt and a blue jacket. He's also wearing glasses and is carrying an item, but I can't tell what it is.
I furrowed my eyebrows as I grabbed my towel to wipe the sweat off my body while walking down towards the mundane, immediately noticing that Jace and Clarice already got to him first.
As I walked over to them, I see Alec walking towards them as well.
"Why is there a mundane in the Institute?" Alec and I both say at the same time. We slowly look at each other before blurting out, "Jinks!" at the same time. "Double Jinks!" we both say again. "Triple Jinks" I say a millisecond faster than Alec.
"Ha! Now you have to give me food and one of your hoodies, particularly the one with the cool design on it," I smirk at Alec in success.
"Not that one, c'mon. It's my only hoodie that actually has a cool design on it," he fake pouts to try to change my mind. I give him the look.
"Too bad. I expect it tomorrow morning along with the food." I see out of the corner of my eye Jace smirking as Clarice and the mundane look at each other, confused as to what's happening. Jace then interrupts.
"Anyways, a Circle member followed him to get to Clary," Jace explained while nodding his head towards the mundane.
"A Circle rune, just like the guys that took my mother," Clarice tells us while looking at the three of us.
"What exactly is a Circle member and why are they trying to kill us?" the mundane chimes in, looking completely lost and confused.
"All we know is, a long time ago the Circle led a revolt. A lot of Shadowhunters got killed," Jace then looks away for a split second, "including my father." Jace explained to Clarice and the mundane. I rub his back at bit to comfort him and he gives me a little smile.
"And since the revolt we've been forbidden to even hear about the Circle," I continued.
Clarice looked at us, confused. "But, how is that even possible? It's your history."
Jace scoffed, "Says the girl who didn't know she was a Shadowhunter?" We all then walked away from the main area, right to Izzy who is at the computers area.
"Yeah, yeah your right. And now the only person who knows the truth is missing, so I don't care about your rules or what's forbidden, I'm," Clarice licks her lips, "there's got to be someone out there who can tell us why they've taken my mother," Clary snapped. I then turned around and just went off. I didn't want to for the sake of Jace, but something set off in me. A feeling I can't explain. Maybe it's anger, jealousy, annoyance, or maybe it's just because I wasn't having a great day. That didn't matter though because I still walked over to Clary and just let her have it.
"Listen here, little girl. You don't get to just order people around like your little slaves. We are people, too. We could have just left you at your house to die, but apparently Jace has a connection with you or something, which is the only reason I've been patient. So, don't be telling us what to do because your gonna get something worse than the demon venom that was in you two days ago."
I then immediately get pulled back from Clarice and I get turned around to see that I'm face to face with Jace.
"Enough. Stop blaming everything on Clary because of your own problems. Leave. Go stay in your room until one of us found something to help Clary. We all don't need you screaming orders in people's faces. Get out of my sight, Echo," Jace ordered. I scoff as I look at him in slight shock. He never uses my first name unless he's really mad.
"Fine, whatever."
I pull my hand out of Jace' grasp and was about to walk away until Alec stopped me. As he was about to say something, I just left.
I slammed my door shut and locked it before putting my back against the door and letting out a breath I've been holding.
My back slides down the door until I feel my ass on the hard, wooden floor. I pulled my knees up to my chest and just silently let out the tears I've been holding in.
I then hear a knock on my door. I roll my eyes. What's a girl gotta do to get a moment a peace in this place?
"Beatrice," I hear Alec' voice say from behind the door. I don't move from my spot.
"Go away, Alec," I say while my voice cracks a bit. I wipe the tears while I hear Alec' voice again.
"I have the hoodie here, but I guess if you don't want it."
After hearing that, I immediately jump up and yanked the door open, but not before unlocking it. My eyes lock onto the hoodie in his hand as Alec looks at my puffy eyes. He sighs and walked up to me before engulfing me into his big arms. I immediately return the gesture, putting my arms around him and laying my head on his chest.
I then break out of the hug to go closed my door and after I finished that, I turned around and immediately grabbed the hoodie out of Alecs' hand before he could change his mind and not give it to me. He chuckles a bit as I go to put the hoodie in my closet. I then sigh as I sit on my bed, Alec doing the same.
"You know, he didn't mean it," Alec reassures me after a couple of second of sitting here in silence. I shake my head a bit.
"I was just telling her what everyone thought. She was controlling us like we are helpless dogs and Jace decides to just order me like he's my parental figure for just saying that to a girl he just met." I then started to tear up again. Alec softly grabbed my face so I'm facing him. He starts to wipe away the tears.
"I know what he said wasn't okay, but it wasn't his fault. I think he's just stressed that the mission failed and with everything that's happening now," Alec reminded me. I sighed and internally agreed with what he said. I mean, I'm also stressed out because of that, too.
"Fine, but I'll only forgive him if he tells me that himself and gives me a plausible explanation," I tell Alec. He smiled and nodded.
"Also, Izzy wants you to go to her room," he then informed me. I nodded and gave Alec one last hug before getting up and leaving my room.
I walked into Izzys' room to see Clarice and Izzy standing there, chatting. I really didn't want to see Clarice again, especially with what happened earlier, but I might as well just get it over with.
"Is this the least revealing thing you have?" Clarice says while looks at Izzys' outfit.
"All the naughty bits are covered. A little too much in my opinion," Izzy sighed. I laughed, to which both girls looked at me. I then walked to Izzys' bed and sat on it.
"Where's Simon?" Clarice crosses her arms and asks Izzy. Hm, seems like Clary has gotten over my little outburst.
"Who?" Clarice widened her eyes, "Kidding. He's in good hands with the boys." Izzy then walked towards her bed and sits down next to me.
I looked at the both of them, confused. "Who's Simon?"
"The mundane," is all Izzy says.
"Oh."
"So, um," Clarice looks at the two of us. "Alec, Jace, and the two of you are what, like, family?"
Izzy laughs, "Translation, you want to know if Jace and I are a thing." I chuckled a bit at that.
Clarice scoffs, "Why would I care?"
"Because you do. Don't worry. In every way, he's like my brother," Izzy then gives me a look. "Except for Beatrice." I widened my eyes and looked at Izzy.
"What about Beatrice?" Clary said in a serious tone, which made me a bit mad, but not at the tone she was using.
"It's Echo to you. Only people I really care about can say my nickname." She nods.
"Beatrice and Jace had a thing a while back as teens. They broke up when Jace officially became a part of the family," Izzy explains, trying to stop me from glaring at Clarice with murderous eyes.
"Why would the two of you date, though? Aren't you guys siblings?" Clary questioned and I rolled my eyes.
"Our parents took Jace in when he was ten. We trained together. Learned to fight side by side. Then, when we were 14, we realized we had feelings for each other. To us, it was okay to date because we weren't related by blood, but apparently, our parents didn't think so. So, after a couple months of dating, our parents legally adopted Jace as a Lightwood, which resulted in us having to break it off for obvious reasons," I explained.
"Oh."
I nodded and then we sat in silence for a couple of seconds before Clarice changed the topic.
"A few days ago, all I had to worry about was getting into art school. And now," Clarice gets cut off by Izzy.
"Is this the part where I give you the pep talk about harnessing your inner Shadowhunter and accepting your true destiny?" Izzy questioned and I laughed a bit.
"Was that the pep talk?"
Iz chuckles, "Basically."
I then interrupted the conversation, "Hey, I'm gonna go, guys, I have some stuff I need to take care of." They said okay and then I got up and walked out the door.
I stand in front of Jaces' door, deciding whether or not to knock.
I know he probably hates me at the moment for what I said, but I know I need to talk to him now. I just want this to be over so that we can go back to being what we've always been. Siblings who don't hate each other
I take a deep breath before knocking.
The door opens wide and immediately, I see Jace standing there. He looks at me, confused.
"Can we talk?" I ask him while putting my hands in my pockets. He doesn't say anything and just stands to the side, leaving space between me and his room.
I walk in and turn around, when I feel I'm in a respectful distance, to see Jace standing a few feet away from me.
"So what do you want to talk about?" He says, acting completely oblivious. I took a deep breath.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said to Clarice, but she is ordering us like mom always did. Always telling us to do specific things and always ignoring what we say. Clarice is clearly just here to use us for her own benefit. I know you don't see it because maybe you're blinded by her beauty, but if she keeps trying to order all of us around like her lap dog instead of trying to listen to what we have to say, then I'm sorry, but I will erase her memory of us and our whole world and put her right back where we found her,"
Jace nods a bit and then speaks, "I get what you're saying. Now that I'm hearing things from your point of view, I can now understand what you're feeling. I get now that Clary was a bit out of line, but you have to understand that you were as well. Yes, Clary was ordering us and not even considering what we were saying, but that didn't give you the right to say those things either," Jace explains to me.
"We we're both in the wrong, I know that now, but I still hate that you were basically doing what Clarice did. You were ordering me and didn't even let me explain myself."
I then see Jace step towards me before wrapping his arms my body. I accept his hug and do the same.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do what I did. I'm just so stressed out with everything and I took it out on you. Can you forgive me?"
I let go of the hug and smile. "Obviously I do. You know I could never stay mad at you."
He chuckles, "We should go now, I have new information I need to share and I'm guessing Alec does as well."
Jace and I walk out of his room and we both make our way to the weapons area. As I walk in, I see Izzy almost touch one of the weapons on display. I immediately head straight for her.
"No, Izzy," I slap her hand, to which she immediately retracts it. I then stand on Izzys' right side as Clarice stands on her left side.
"Fifty bucks says Alec doesn't approve of this mission," Izzy suddenly whispers to Clarice and I. Alec then walks up towards the four of us.
"I don't approve of this mission."
I sigh as I grab 50 dollars from my wallet and hand it to Izzy, I see Clarice doing the same. Alec and Jace just look at us with confused faces.
All I say is, "a bet." They just nod.
"I spoke with the Clave since Beatrice was a bit busy," Jace looks at me as Alec continues speaking, "They're sending Seelie scouts to search for Valentine, but they made it clear the little girl does not leave the premises."
Clarice scoffs, "Hey, my name is not 'little girl', okay? I don't care what that Clave thing or you want, I'm going to find Dot." I sigh, this is exactly what I meant.
"Alec, this warlock could have the answers we need. With Valentines' people out there searching for Clary, she's not safe outside alone," Jace explains.
Izzy then chimes in, "Jace has a point."
"Et tu, Izzy?" Alec then looks at me.
I put my hands up, "Nope. Leave me out of this. I'm only agreeing on the part where the little girl stays in the Institute." Clarice scoffs as Alec looks at her.
"All right, since you have all the answers, where do you suggest we search?"
"We should start at Dot's apartment in Greenpoint, and there's this thrift store that she," Clarice starts to touch her necklace before she gasps. I furrowed my eyes.
"Clarice?" I wave my hand in her face.
"What's wrong? What is it?" Jace asks with concern.
"I, um," Clarice licks her lips. "Weirdly, I think I know where Dot is," Clarice then looks at Jace.
"Great. I'll drive," the mundane suddenly says. I didn't even know he was still here. He then pulls out a pair of keys. We all looked at him. "What? Unless you have, like, a Shadowhunter-mobile or something." We all said nothing. "You were kidding about the runes on the floor killing me, right?" Izzy, Jace, Alec and I all looked at each other, smiling. Jace then looked at Simon.
"Possibly." Jace started walking and we all followed behind.
"Wait, am I gonna die?" I hear Simon say. I chuckled. I knew we were going to go out. I swear, my gut instincts are never wrong.
Everyone decided that Simon' van would be the better for us to transport in because it was the only vehicle that could hold all of us, which was true since the only vehicles that were available to us were motorcycles.
We all got into the van. Simon was in the driver seat, Clarice in the passenger seat, Izzy in the left window seat, me in the middle, Alec in the right window seat, and Jace in the back seat.
It wasn't long until we arrived at Pandemonium.
Clarice was the first one out of the van, immediately speed walking towards the club. We all then got out of the van quickly, hoping to catch up considering we are in a very dark alleyway and we can't really see each other that well.
After a minute or two, Clarice then stops and touches her necklace once again. For what reason? I don't know.
"Dot," Clarice says before looking ahead. "Dot!"
She starts to run and I roll my eyes as we all run after her. She makes her way to the front of Pandemonium.
"Clary! Clary, stop! Where are you going?" Jace runs next to her as she stops. The rest of us all stand behind her, breathing heavily as she speaks.
"Two men, Circle members, the same ones who came to my house, who took my mom. They have Dot. They're gonna hurt her or kill her. We have to stop them." She runs into Pandemonium. I close my eyes.
"Can this bitch stop running for a damn minute?" I say quietly while trying to catch my breath. Alec hears me and chuckles a bit. I smile as we all then ran into Pandemonium after her.
While inside, I see glass shattered all over the floor and that the place is a mess. It was definitely Valentine.
I see Clarice on the other side of the room with the others and I make my way over to them.
"She was just trying to help me," Clarice turns to us and touches the necklace again. Jeez, she must love that necklace. "Now, she's gone."
"Clary, I'm sorry," Simon tries to comfort her, but she just shakes her head.
"You don't understand. Dot's like my big sister." Clarice looks from Simon to Jace.
Alec coughs, trying to signal everyone's attention. "It's not safe here. We have to go back to the Institute right now."
I nod, "I agree. Who knows what could happen to us if we get caught. Plus, anyone could just attack us right now considering we're out in the open."
"So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up? What about my memories? They can't just be gone?" Clarice tried to reason with us. Jace then steps forward a bit.
"There is another option" Jace says. I widened my eyes.
"Don't even-" "Absolutely not," Iz and Alec both say at the same time. I look at Jace.
"Hell no. You know we can't trust them, Jace. Plus, they scare the ever-living fuck out of me. You know what happened the last time we went." He looks at me sympathetically.
"I know, Beatrice, but I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers." Clarice looks at all of us, confused.
"Who are the Silent Brothers?"
"They're Shadowhunters," Izzy cuts Jace off.
"-with superior powers."
"Who posses the ability to recover memories," I added.
"A process that can also kill you, so there's that," Alec tells her.
"Your bedside manner is abysmal" Simon unnecessarily says to Alec. He just ignores him.
"We've broken at least 18 Clave rules," I interrupted Alec.
"and now you want to go to the City of Bones!? Are you crazy!? That place is dangerous. I won't allow this to happen and neither will Alec." Jace looks at Alec and I.
"This isn't our choice to make. This is Clary's decision," Jace looks at Clarice, waiting for her answer.
"You can't ask her to do this. She doesn't know what she's facing. She's not prepared," Izzy argued. Clarice takes a deep breath.
"If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers we need, I'm listening." Nobody utters a word. "That settles it."
"See? I told you she was one of us" Jace pats Alec's shoulder and walks out. Clarice smirks at us before following him.
I roll my eyes, "God, such a bitch." Alec laughs and puts an arm around my shoulder. I smile as we follow them out of Pandemonium. The rest follows behind.
After what feels like a long ride, we get out and see that we've made it to the City of Bones. I immediately get chills. I don't want to be in this place at all.
"Yeah, this place isn't creepy. Not at all," Simon sarcastically says. I glared at him and he shuts his mouth. There is a time and place to be making jokes and now is not the time.
"Don't tell me your afraid," Izzy taunts the mundane.
Simon scoffs, "Are you kidding? I was born afraid, which sounded a lot better in my head."
"Let's check it out," Alec suggests. He starts walking towards the run down building and I follow behind him. I immediately grab his arm and hold on to it. He looks at me and smiles as we walk around.
After checking around a bit, we walk back towards Izzy and Jace.
"Hey. If something goes wrong, if something happens to her, that's on us. You know that, don't you?" Alec tells Jace.
"Yeah and you know exactly what'd happen if Valentine gets the Cup before we do," Jace looks at Clarice before continuing, "she's lost everything, Alec. I know exactly what that feels like," Jace takes his eyes off of Clarice and looks back at Alec, "and what's your problem with her, anyway? Your family always welcome strays."
"You were never a stray," I jumped in the conversation, still holding Alecs' arm. Jace stayed silent for a couple of seconds before talking.
"The point is, nothing's changed. We're in this fight together. There's just one more of us." Jace looks at Clarice once again. He calls out to her and tells her that everything is okay.
While Jace is with Clarice, Alec and I walked closer to the City of Bones.
Once we got there, I moved my hand from his arm to his hand, intertwining them. He doesn't say anything or look at me, but just tightens his grip. I then close my eyes. This place has bad memories and I wouldn't be surprised if I have suppressed ptsd.
How did this all start? Well...
| Flashback |
Jace and I stand off to the side as Sophie stands in the middle of the room. You see, my best friend, Sophie, lost her memories due to certain circumstances, but an accident occurred and she lost some memories that weren't meant to be erased. The only way to recover those memories was to go to the Silent Brothers. I never feared them. Neither did Jace or Sophie. We all knew the risk when doing this and we were all prepared to take it. I think the only reason Jace and I agreed with this was because we thought she was strong enough, but I guess we got proven wrong.
Sophie lifts her head up and the needle slowly goes down until it digs into the middle of her forehead. She suddenly gasped.
After about 10 seconds of her just standing there with the needle in her forehead, she collapsed. I immediately rushed over to her.
"Sophie?!"
I saw her mouth filling up with blood and I could see her eyes go grey. I put my finger on her neck to check for a pulse, but obviously, there was none.
I looked at Jace with tears pouring down my face. I could see him looking at me the same way. She was only 15 years old and we were 16. She didn't deserve this. We should have never let her do this, why did we let her do this? Then, Jace pulled me back from her body.
"Jace!" I yelled. I then saw one of the Silent Brothers grab a sword. "No!" I screamed, but my words were nothing but wind to their ears.
They went up to Sophies' lifeless body and quickly cut her head off of her body with no regard for Jace and I. Two 16 year old teenagers who had just watched their friend be decapatated by "people" we thought we could trust.
I screamed in agony as Jace looked down with tears in his eyes. I fell to the ground, shaking. I screamed curse words at them as my face was soaking wet with tears. Jace tried to not let his emotions get the best of him as he grabbed me off the floor and carried me in his arms as I just cried.
| Flashback Over |
"Echo!"
I looked up at Alec, almost surprised. He looked at me with concern.
"Sorry, I just tuned out a bit. Where is everyone?" I asked, trying to divert his attention.
"Jace and Clary went to see the Silent Brothers, Izzy and Simon went back to the van," he told me. "Anyways, what were you thinking about?" As I was about to answer, I hear crying behind me and turn around to see Clarice.
"What happened? What did you find out?" I asked, a bit concerned, as I ran over to her.
"Valentine is Clarys' father," Jace answered from behind her. I widened my eyes and slowly walked back to Alec. He put one arm protectively about me as I kinda stepped a bit so I was behind him.
I know I'm supposed to be this tough girl, but only three things scare me. One, Valentine. Two, the Silent Brothers. Lastly, three. When people I cares about die. Suddenly, Alecs' voice pulls me back in the conversation.
"Wait a minute. You're telling me this girl shows up out of nowhere and she's Valentines' daughter?! Did it ever occur to you that she might be a spy? This might be part of her plan?" Alec questioned Jace. By the looks of it, he's anger. I don't blame him.
"That's enough, Alec," Jace defends Clarice.
"Do you think I planned for my mom to get kidnapped? Or-or for Dot to be taken? Or have a giant sword dangled over my head and find out that my father is one of the most dangerous people in the world? Really?" Clarice trembled a bit. She then started to look around. "Where's Simon? Where's Simon?" I then see Izzy make her way towards us.
"I told him to stay in the van. I've searched everywhere," Izzy explains. I gave her a little nod. I didn't even know the mundane was gone, but I know that Izzy did all she could to find him.
"He's gone?" Clarice fumes with anger. "You were supposed to protect him!" Clarice yells at Izzy. I step out of Alecs' arm and protectively stepped in front of Izzy.
"This isn't her fault. She protected him to the best of her ability. Don't blame her for something she couldn't control! Besides, at least she tried to look for him," I yelled. She ignores me and starts to call out his name. "Ugh! These fucking mundanes are going to be the death of me, I swear." I rolled my eyes as Izzy and Jace chuckled.
"Language, Tris," Alec warned. I smiled and then we all went after Clarice. She starts to call out his name over and over again and I won't lie, it's annoying.
"Is that the mundanes name?" I hear a familiar voice say. We all looked up to see Simon dangling by his legs by some vampire bitch and, holy hell, Raphael. "I'm afraid Simon's coming with us!"
"Raphael, put the mundane down. I know you don't want to do this!" I called out.
"What are you doing?" Jace whispers to me, which I ignore.
I used to date Raphael and yes, I know I said those type of relationship aren't legal, but I was never really one to follow rules. The only people who knew were Alec and Izzy. I never told anyone else. Luckily, my siblings didn't mind it.
Anyways, Raphael then looks at me.
"Mi amõr, I'm sorry, but I have to do this. Simon! In exchanged for the Mortal Cup! And the clock is ticking." My siblings and Clarice exchanged words with Raphael, but I didn't pay attention to that at all. I just looked at Raphael.
If I had to be honest, he still looks as handsome as the day we met. It's obviously because he's a vampire, but still. We could've still been together had it not been that he was actually asexual. I didn't have a problem with it, but he said that he didn't want to condemn me in a relationship that he knew would bore me. He said that he knew I wanted an emotional connection, but also a physical connection as well and he knew he couldn't give me the sexual intimacy I wanted. It broke my heart, but I understood.
He looked at me one last time before he left with Simon and that other bitch.
"Simon!"
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