Chapter Text
Isabelle was lying on the familiar couch at the Institute. She was waiting for Alec and Jace to come back with pizza. Clary and Magnus were out at a concert for a faerie band that they both fan-girl over. Footsteps coming from down the hall grabbed her attention; she thought it was either Rylan or Kyle. She looked around and then realized that Simon was at home with the kids. She got up and started to find the source of the noise. “Jace? Alec?” She called out down the empty hallway. She made her way to the end of the hall. “Hello?” She called out again. She peeked her head around the corner and her heart dropped to her stomach. She felt the familiar burning of her skin and the nauseating feeling in her stomach. What the hell? A Demon? How! She took in the sight before her: a large green blob whose fat rolls oozed of black slime. Its skin looked sleek. As if smelling her scent, the demon turned to face her. Its face was huge, and it had teeth that stuck out of its mouth in an upward fashion. Drool dribbled from its hungry mouth. It’s been forever since she’s actually fought a demon by herself. She dedicated her time to being a mother rather than being a fulltime Shadowhunter. She knew the Clave disagreed with the decision, but she felt it was right in her heart. She grabbed the familiar whip from around her wrist and snapped it in the air. The Demon whipped its head around and roared a horrendous sound. She internally shivered and her face-hardened. Be strong Izzy. Be strong. She glared the demon down and smacked her whip towards it. The long, glistening whip smacked the skin of the demon and splattered ooze all over her. She looked up to see the demon with a gash in its skin. Come on Iz. She ran into one of the rooms as the blob started running after her. She pulled her phone out and called Simon.
“Hello?” He answered.
“Simon. I need you!” She exasperated.
“Babe. What’s wrong?” He asked with worry in his voice.
“There’s a demon. I need you to help me. I can’t do it by myself,” she rambled out quickly.
“Wait, what? A demon? In the Institute? Where are Alec and Jace?” He asked loudly.
“Simon, quit asking questions! Just get your ass over here! I need you now! The kids will be fine. Just leave them there!” She yelled into the phone just as the Demon slammed into the door. “Fuck!” She yelled. “Simon! Now!” She said and hung up the phone.
Within minutes, Simon was at the Institute. His heart was pounding through his chest and his dagger was in his hand. He had no idea how large this demon was or where Izzy was. He ran through the door. “Isabelle? Where are you?” he yelled. “Simon!” He heard her say in return. He ran towards the sound of her voice. He ran down the hallway and into one of the near rooms. He saw the room was destroyed. Rubble lay all over the ground and dust flew everywhere. “Izzy?” He said into the empty room. He looked down as he heard a grunt.
“Simon?” He heard coming from a body on the ground. The dust soon started to settle and the world seemed to stop for Simon. Isabelle. She lie on the floor with half of her leg missing. His heart dropped to the floor and he felt all of the remains in his stomach lurch up his throat. Not able to hold it back anymore, he puked all over the floor. Soon as he was back to his senses, he covered his mouth and fell to the ground beside Isabelle.
“Izzy.” He whispered. He pulled her close to him. Her head lay on his chest. “Oh baby.” He said as a tear fell down his face. He kissed her forehead softly and gripped her to his chest.
“Simon.” She coughed out as blood trickled out of her mouth. Suddenly an ear-rattling roar shot through the air. Simon whipped his head around and took in the sight of the demon. Fear coursed through his veins. Mother of God. He was still not used to being able to say holy words such as God. He lay Isabelle on the ground and stood up to face the demon. He pulled his dagger out and ran the attack. Like a flash of lightning, the demon flicked its head to Simon and bit his arm off. Simon howled in pain. He fell to the ground right beside Isabelle. He looked over to his arm as blood poured out of it. Isabelle, upon feeling her and the pain fading, looked over to him and tears fell down both of their faces. “I love you,” she whispered with a blood filled mouth.
He winced in pain and tried to smile at his wife. “I love you, too,” he replied grabbing her hand. “Forever,” he added.
She closed her eyes and rasped for her breath. “And always,” she spat out. Immediately after the words left her lips, her chest stopped moving. Simon cried out in pain. He was not sure if it was from his missing limb or if it was the feeling of his heart shattering and shooting shards throughout the rest of his body.
“Izzy,” he whispered, knowing she was dead. He realized he did not hear any more noises. He tried to look up and find the demon. I will fight. He thought to himself. He looked up in time to see an unknown man standing in the doorway staring at him and Isabelle lying on the floor. “Who the hell?” is all he managed to say before he started choking on blood. The man smirked at the dying couple. A smirk that triggered in Simon’s brain. “Sebastian?” He spat out with hatred and disgust. I thought you were dead…?
Suddenly the world went black and Simon faded into a deep, dark abyss. The last thought that coursed through his mind was of his two children, Rylan and Kyle.
Walking through the large, metal Institute doors with a steaming pizza box, Alec laughed at Jace telling another detailed story about their adventurous children, Cole and Maryssa. He was excited for tonight. They had decided that the Lightwood’s would spend this evening together while they had the time. He remembered the last time he spent an entire evening with just his family was the day after Christmas. It had been a couple weeks since that wonderful day. That was not to say that they never saw each other. They saw each other at least once every couple days whether it be training, hunting, or babysitting one another’s’ kids. The siblings were all busy with other things: their families, their own lives away from each other, which was strange for them to deal with for a while considering how terribly close the siblings were throughout their youth. Tonight they were all planning to hang out for a while before returning to their normal lives.
Alec opened the door and walked into the Institute. He strode into the living area and took in the sight of the disaster that was the Institute. He dropped the pizza, causing it to splatter red sauce all over the floor, his shoes, and the bottom of the wall. “What the hell, man? We were going to ea-” Jace walked in to join Alec in the room. Eyes like a deer in headlights, he looked from the pizza on the floor to the chaotic mess of blood and ichor and… bodies. His expression changed from annoyed, to confused, then to utterly terrified. Jace took it all in for a moment and ran over to the bloody bodies. With wide, shaking pupils, he kneeled down and said, “No. No. No. NO.” He moved the body to see the still beautiful face. Isabelle. “Fuck. Izzy…” He murmured. With a panicked look, he yelled, “Alec!” He looked back to see a frozen Alec, standing there with a blank expression. “Alec!” He yelled more urgently, “Ass hole, bring me your stele!” Then, he remembered the other body. No. All that went through his head as he ran at the other, indistinguishable, slim body was, No. No. Not Clary. It can’t be. He threw himself on the floor next to the other body, seeing it clearly was not his wife, he looked at it more closely. Simon. He closed his eyes. He had dealt with blood and gore and death before, but this was different.
He looked at Alec, who was still frozen in place. Jace felt all the substance he had in his stomach rumbling dangerously as he leaned down and it all came out. He threw up everything in his stomach and looked up to see Alec was kneeling next to Isabelle with his stele. Alec tried to apply iratzes to her wounds, but they were too great and both of the boys knew it. After Alec had spent at least ten minutes attempting and failing at the iratze drawing for over 10 minutes, Jace whispered, “Alec.” But Alec acted as if he had not heard anything. He drew another and another and another. “Alec!” Jace said more forcefully. “Alec, it’s too late. We were-” he choked, “too late.”
Alec tried once more and stopped. He sat there for 20 minutes before he moved again. He stood up quickly and threw his stele forcefully at the wall. “FUCK!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.
Jace looked at Simon and Isabelle once more. “Alec, we need to call the others.” Alec stared at the ground and bit his lip as he gripped his fists. Jace walked to Alec and grabbed him. “Come on.”
Alec looked at him with panic evident in his blue eyes. “No- W-We can’t just leave them!”
Jace looked at him and dragged him outside the Institute. “We aren’t leaving. You just need to get out of there.” Alec let himself be dragged outside. Jace stood there for a moment. “You going to call them, or me?” Alec did not reply, so Jace took a deep breath and took out his phone. He punched in some buttons and held it up to his ear with an anxious look. How do you tell your wife that her best friend of 19 years is dead?
“Hey, babe!” Clary said into the phone. Jace’s heart broke.
“Hey… Are you guys on your wa-”
Clary interrupted, “What? Sorry; I can’t hear you very well.” She was yelling, so obviously she could not hear him. Shit. About a millisecond after she said this, Jace heard a loud thud coming from his left. The blonde twisted around to investigate and saw Alec standing next to a wall with a fist-sized hole in it. His pale hand was gushing blood and the skin on his knuckles was peeling off. Wide, upset eyes aimed at the brunette, Jace took a breath and continued his conversation with his wife.
He said louder and more clearly, “Come back now. Okay?”
She replied, “Okay… Is-” but Jace could hear no more. The call ended and he sat on the ground. Alec was already collapsed on the floor in a sitting position, not bothering with his hand. He had the same blank look on his face as he continued staring at the floor. He started biting his nails and Jace was reminded of all the times when they were younger that he had seen him do the same thing. Jace felt his stomach wrench again and started dry heaving, seeing as everything substantial in his stomach was on the floor of the Institute. After what seemed like years of waiting and being overcome by shock, they heard a loud voice say something about “missing the best part.” Then, he heard running steps over to him and Alec.
Magnus ran to Alec and asked, after seeing his white, stricken face, “Darling, what’s wrong?” Alec only mumbled something about “too late”.
Clary was at Jace’s side in no time, rubbing his back and saying it was going to be okay. He finally got himself under control enough to spit out. “It’s Simon and Isabelle.”
He looked at Clary and saw a flash of fear across her face. “Where are they?” Jace gestured to the Institute door and Clary asked with a hurt look, “Then, why the hell are you guys out here?” Jace looked over at Alec, who Magnus had curled in his arms whispering something he assumed was comforting in his ear, and back at Clary. “We-” he choked, “were too late.” He looked at the ground with tears stinging his eyes for the first time.
He blinked them away as he heard Clary ask, “But- I mean- But they’re okay. Right?” she asked, “Right?” She let down her brave eyes as the tears made their way down her cheeks. She looked at Jace, “Right?” She repeated with a shaking voice. She looked at Alec and Jace as if they were lying. She started to run into the Institute. She made her way into the living area and saw the mass destruction and the blood. She gasped as she saw Simon and Isabelle lying on the floor. She ran over to Simon as the tears kept streaming down her face. She leaned her head onto his and kissed him softly on the forehead. She started sobbing forcefully as she laid her head on his chest. She suddenly felt light headed, and at that moment, Magnus came into the room and wrapped his arm around her.
“Come on, biscuit.” He pulled her back outside, looking at the bodies with sadness. When they got back outside, Jace and Alec stood there. Magnus went back to holding Alec tightly and Jace wrapped his arms around Clary. Magnus walked slowly over to Jace and Clary. “Should we, um,” Magnus started, “Call your parents?” He directed his question at Jace, seeing as how Alec hadn’t said a word since he threw his stele.
Jace nodded and blinked. “Yeah. I-” he breathed, “I don’t know why I didn’t- uhm- think of-” he paused as he felt his head spinning.
“Jace?” Clary asked quietly.
Jace shook his head, “Sorry. I’m fine.” He pulled out his phone just as Clary passed out right in his arms. He held her up with Magnus’ help. Magnus asked, “Want to come home with us for now, Jace?” Jace nodded in reply. They carried Clary to the road, where they got a mundane taxi to Magnus’ apartment.
After Magnus had helped Jace carry Clary upstairs to one of the extra bedrooms, he made sure they didn’t need anything before he went to his bedroom. He found Alec sitting on the corner of the bed with his head in his hands, not crying, just sitting. “Love.” The Warlock sat down next to his boyfriend and moved his hand to rest on Alec’s back. The Shadowhunter jerked away and stood up. Magnus looked up at him. His empty, blue eyes were ringed with dark circles of exhaustion and his skin was paler than normal. His hair was mussed every which way and he kept seeming to stare off into the vast nothingness. Magnus’ cat eyes were drawn back to the boy’s bleeding hand. “Alec, sweetheart,” he asked gently, “can I please see your hand?” Alec just stared, and then, as if needing to think about it first, he nodded, looking down and reaching his hand out for Magnus. The Warlock healed his hand as gently as possible and held onto it for a moment. “Darling, you need rest.” Earning no response, he took a deep breath and added, “Here, let’s get you changed.” He reached for the hem of Alec’s shirt, but was gently pushed away by Alec.
“I can do it,” Alec muttered.
“I know you can.” Magnus helped him anyway and then helped him into bed. He tucked the blankets around him and laid down beside him. They just laid like that; not touching, or cuddling like they normally did. They laid still in a heartbroken silence.