Chapter Text
The battle around him doesn’t seem to stop. It’s been hours and hours and hours since they marched against Valentine’s forces, since the first battle cries tore the night sky apart and since the winged soldiers rose high above the clouds, battling for life in the air.
He fires another arrow at one of Valentine’s minions. The Nephilim are forcing them back slowly, when suddenly a cry shatters his bones and his heart stops.
Alec freezes midair, his powerful wings holding him in place. He watches the shadowhunter fall faster and faster, his pair of bright cream coloured wings standing out against the black sky, crossing it like shooting stars.
They’re too familiar to Alec to create any other reaction than a loud, agonizing scream as he awakes from his shock and bolts forward. Because it is Jace, his brother, his parabatai, who is falling. It is Jace, whose blood seeps through his gear, whose wings are splattered with blood, his own and his enemies’. It is Jace, who falls like a shot bird, without any consciousness left in his body. He is wounded and it is Alec’s fault. Because Alec is his parabatai and he is supposed to have Jace’s back and he was too distracted to look out for him.
Alec feels numb. Everything around him is starting to blur, his focus solely on Jace as he rushes forwards, his wings cutting through the air. But no matter how powerful his movements are, he won’t reach his parabatai in time. Jace is falling faster and faster, too fast... But Jace won’t die; not here, not now. This is not the battle where Alec is going to lose him. Not after everything they’ve been through these past months. Not after saving Jace from Valentine just a few weeks ago. Alec is determined to save him because he knows, he simply knows, that if he loses Jace, when he could have saved him, he will never be the same again, and that he will never forgive himself for it. And he knows that he will lose a part of himself, the second half of his soul and Alec is certain, that he simply cannot live without that.
His heart is racing; adrenaline is shooting through his veins. Alec tucks his wings in, pressing them close to his body, reducing the air resistance, as he gets closer and closer to Jace in his steep dive.
He reaches out and finally, after a blink of an eye that feels like eternity, he gets a hold of Jace, grabs him around the waist and tries to pull both of them up and up, away from the deadly ground.
But Alec’s wings are aching, exhausted from hours of holding him in the air, hours of fighting against Valentine, and Jace is a dead weight in his arms, pulling both of them down. But Alec can’t let go of him. He won’t let go of him because he won’t let Jace die. Not now, not ever.
His mind is working on a solution but either way they are going to crash. Because Alec is not strong enough, he is too weak. Because he failed the one person that matters more to him than anyone else.
So Alec does the only reasonable thing he can think of. He lets himself sink underneath Jace, his back towards the ground, pulling Jace closer to him, as he curls his large wings protectively around Jace, shielding him from the impact that is so, so close. It is his job to protect the people he cares about and if he couldn’t protect Jace from getting hurt, he can at least protect him from the injuries that the impact would cause.
Alec can sense the ground a second before he crashes down. He closes his eyes, presses his eyelids together and prepares himself, holding Jace so tight it might have hurt him if he had been conscious, wrapping his wings even closer. If he dies now, at least Jace would live. He would not fail his parabatai again. Alec takes a deep breath and then...
The next thing Alec feels is the pain tearing him apart, ripping his body in half. He can hear his own bones cracking under the force of the impact. Every cell sings with agony and then there’s blood and Alec doesn’t know if it’s his own, or Jace’s, or the blood of Valentine’s minions, but it is staining his gear, and his feathers feel slick against each other and the earth beneath him feels sticky. But all he can think about is Jace and that Jace has to live... Alec reaches out and by the Angel... He can’t feel their parabatai bond...There is no connection. He lost Jace; he can’t feel it... He can’t feel it... He can’t feel their parabati bond, and suddenly his vision blurs and there are tears streaming down his face as he hugs Jace tighter. “Jace...” he whispers in a hoarse voice “Jace. Please, please, please... don’t be dead... don’t be dead... don’t be dead...” And all he can think about is that it simply isn’t fair that he survived the fall and Jace didn’t because Alec failed, because he wasn’t fast enough...
There are people running towards him, he can hear his mother crying out and his father talking and then there is Izzy sobbing, falling down to her knees next to him. His vision is still blurry and his blood rushing in his ears and he is shaking now. Because he still can’t feel Jace, he can’t feel anything at all and there is still agonizing pain everywhere.
More people arrive and Alec recognizes the voice of his mother giving orders he can’t comprehend. Then someone tries to unfurl his wings and take Jace away from him and there is more pain shooting through his body. But it doesn’t matter, because he won’t let them take Jace.
Alec starts to scream and sob and shake and fight everyone who tries to get closer to him with the last ounce of energy he has left... And he clings even more onto Jace, pressing him against his own body, still protecting him, keeping him safe...
Izzy’s voice crystallizes from the blur of sound and vision. “Alec, you have to let go of him. We can’t help you if you won’t let us take both of you with us,” she pleads, “Neither you nor Jace.”
And Alec tries to understand her words. If they want to help both of them, does it mean Jace is still alive? Although Alec can’t feel their bond anymore?
There is a soothing wave of magic washing over his body and Alec feels Magnus’ presence. And as the adrenaline finally wears off, when there is only pain left, he can feel Jace breathing against his chest. Weak and slow, but breathing. And if he concentrates, if he reaches out with all of his senses, he can feel their bond. Relief floods through him and he starts crying again. Jace isn’t dead, he isn’t dead, Alec saved him.
“Alexander” he hears Magnus’ voice, soft and gentle but he can’t hide the worry underneath it “You have to let go of your parabatai, otherwise we can’t help you, my love.”
And this time Alec unwraps his wings, wincing as pain flashes through him, lets them rest against the earth so the people around him can take Jace with them because he knows Jace is alive, because he saved him. And when Magnus pours another wave of pain killing magic through his body, his fingers slowly stroking through Alec’s hair, he lets the pain and exhaustion finally wash over him and drifts into the dark.