#like the thing that jace didn’t get when he was resurrected which allowed him to be influenced by lilith or whatever

[amchara]

Road to Hell (Wait for Me, I’m Coming) Part Two - Kit / Ty Hadestown AU

(Part One)

Ty rubbed his face tiredly, as he stared at another chicken-scratch parchment in the Unseelie Court’s library. He looked up and saw that Dru was fast asleep, gently snoring into her crossed arms, while Anush was dazedly flipping through pages of a huge leatherbound book. Mark had left a while ago, muttering something about getting some food for them but he hadn’t returned yet.

Ty looked down at his research, the collected notes he had written over the last day and a half and suddenly it seemed pitiful, compared to the task ahead. Ty could feel the panic rising, his chest tight and he concentrated on the feel of the rough paper underneath his fingertips. He had to get Kit out of Hell and he was taking notes, like he was back in the Scholomance and this was an assignment, instead of… instead of the most important fucking thing in the world.

He hadn’t told Kit how he felt yet. They had only just re-entered each other’s lives over the past two months and were still doing a wary dance as they relearned each other’s steps after three years apart.

There had been a hesitant scene in the L.A. Institute’s atrium when Kit had strolled in, almost as if he had never left, all sunshine gold hair, eyes the colour of a clear autumn sky, and a husky voice with just the slightest hint of an English accent.

There had been the angry, sparse time when Helen had sent them on a patrol together and they had strode along in miserable silence until Kit had finally stopped him and asked where Livvy was- and Ty had snapped back at him, the wound still raw, that he was trying to make amends for everything he’d done but he’d had to do it alone and he wasn’t ready to talk about it. The fragile moment when Kit’s face had crumpled briefly and he told Ty he was sorry he had left and that Ty had had to do it alone. And the appearance of the Raum demons a minute later, interrupting them- but then the glimpse of how it could be, as Kit had stopped him after the attack and insisted on drawing the iratze on Ty’s forearm, his face a study of concentration as they sat in the car before driving back to the Institute.

There had been fleeting, glorious moments in the training room when they had sparred, the pretence of combat a freeing sensation for Ty, as he felt able to finally touch Kit and the look Kit had given him, his breath an uneven whisper on Ty’s collarbone after he pinned him to the floor, almost helping Ty make his decision. But it hadn’t been enough - and the agonising choice of whether to knock - and still being a coward and walking away, almost too quickly, from Kit’s door.

And then that moment in the clearing. When Kit had done the stupid, honourable Herondale thing and sacrificed himself for the rest of them. Ty didn’t think he’d do the same if the situation was reversed - but then again, he was a Blackthorn.

From far away, he could hear a tearing, ripping sound and he came back to himself, noting the confetti of yellow parchment floating down to the ground around him, as he paced back and forth, paper strewn around him and his hands moving almost mechanically as he shredded his carefully taken notes.

Anush looked over at him, finally noticing Ty’s pacing and his eyes widened. And just then, Mark re-appeared in the doorway, carrying a large tray. He let out a curse as he saw Ty, almost knocking over the tray in his hurry to put it down. He crossed the room quickly to stand in front of Ty, gentle as he placed his hands over his brother’s as he clasped them a firm grip. This time, Ty let him in and he drew in a few deep, shuddering breaths as he let the small remains of paper drop.

“It’s all right,” he told Mark. “I have them all memorised.”

Mark nodded. “It’s wise to not leave the notes to Hade unguarded,” he said. He paused. “Although perhaps a bit unkind to the brownie cleaners - but no matter, I’ll arrange to speak to them.”

There was a stretch of silence. “I’m leaving tomorrow morning,” Ty said. “I can’t wait too long- we don’t know if time moves differently in Hades compared to the rest of Faerie and I can’t risk it.”

Mark’s eyes searched Ty’s face - not seeking eye contact but a different kind of reassurance. He seemed to find it, and he dropped Ty’s hands. “Then we’ll prepare to go together - you’re not going alone,” he said. A chorus joined in - a rousing if slightly terrified response from Anush, and a sleepy affirmation from Dru, who appeared to have just woken up.

Ty felt a brief moment of terror that he was bringing more people into what his research told him was likely a suicide mission… but the ice cold shiver of memories and Livvy’s pleading, drained face swam into view and he swallowed his protests. He didn’t think he could go through it alone again.

—

The ivory keys of the grand piano were always immaculately polished and Kit wondered whose job it was to clean them. His job was to play the music and he thanked - well, it wasn’t God and it wasn’t the Angel Raziel - but he thanked his lucky stars that he had picked up some basic songs from Jace the previous summer when he had visited the New York Institute, and that Jem had considered learning to read music by sight an essential part of a well-rounded education, alongside Kit’s Shadowhunter training and mundane school.

In contrast to the bright electric fluorescence that lit the warren of overly warm machinery-filled rooms that Kit had started to refer to as Hadestown, Persephone’s conservatory was different, with its faded white, latticed walls and high glass ceilings letting in the smallest fraction of outside light.

It reminded him of where he had lived with Jem, Tessa and Mina - in… C- In Cir- Kit’s mind stuttered. He didn’t know how long he had been here - the days were starting to blur together and he was worried he was starting to forget more than just the little things.

He stared down at the piano keys as the large ornamental clock on the wall struck eleven. Like clockwork precision, Persephone waltzed in, her movements sultry but sulky as always. She threw some new music books at Kit and he caught them awkwardly, balancing them on his lap.

“These ones - I don’t care which one you play first today,” she said, sitting down on the long fainting couch across from him, her black hair spilling over the white satin fabric as she rested her head. Kit tried not to stare at her deep decolletage, which was prominently framed by the tight red dress she was wearing. She noticed as he turned away and her gaze was hungry as she looked at him.

Kit looked down as he chose a music book and blindly opened it to a first page he saw. He started playing, a crooning jazz number singing out underneath his fingers. He didn’t know if it was because he was in Faerie or the spell he could feel he was under but he was a much better musician here than in the mundane world. The tight, lost look on Persephone’s face began to relax as the melody echoed in the conservatory.

As he finished the first song and began another, his movements almost automatic, Kit allowed himself to think again, of escape - of returning to the land of the living - to his family, to the Shadowhunter institutions he was slowly becoming accustomed to again, to… Ty. To what might be between them, although he had almost strangled that hope, locked it away tight and deep inside his heart. What they had resurrected - if that word could be used - given previous circumstances was almost a miracle, Kit thought, hard fought for and one that he hadn’t been about to throw away on foolish too-soon declarations of love. Even so, when he had seen that faerie arrow aimed straight at Ty’s heart, he hadn’t hesitated. He might not be ever able to tell Ty how he felt but at least he had been able to show it in his actions, he mused.

And he wasn’t about to give up on leaving this hellhole, although each unrelenting day in this dull, dark and depressing place of dust and hollow-eyed workers pulled at that hope. But he clung to his memories - to the now-dimly lit memories of the outside world. Of his love for a black-haired, grey-eyed boy with his sharp intellect and fierce love of his family, who saw the world in a different light than most, and was - had been willing - and maybe, might be willing again to share it with Kit.

The last note rang out as he finished the song and he drew his hands back, muscles aching. He had been playing for nearly an hour. In the sudden silence, Persephone let out a ragged sigh.

“Who is the love that you play for, boy?” she said, her voice ancient and rough. She rose from the couch and crossed the floor, her dress swishing across the smooth marble. “I have heard many love songs in my years… but yours is one that I haven’t heard in an eon. Tell me their name.” Her green eyes glistened with unshed tears.

But Kit remained silent. He knew instinctively if he said Ty’s name, he would lose it. He shook his head, his lips pressed together.

Persephone narrowed her eyes, and she reached out, as if to stroke his brow. Kit evaded her and stood up. He had been coming to play for her for several times now, and he had started to learn her ways. He needed a distraction. “I saw that crack in the wall- is that new, Persephone?” Kit lowered his voice as he gestured across the room. “I know you’re a captive as much as I am. Let me help you- we can escape together and then I will tell you.”

Persephone’s laugh was as dry as a winter’s wind as she sized him up. “Oh, that’s adorable, my sweet-” she said. “But I made my choice long ago and it’s--” her eyes suddenly moved past him. “It’s the love I deserve,” her voice suddenly was filled with honey and springtime.

Kit knew that Hades had arrived, and he tried to quell the fear rising in him as he turned around.

The man - fae - god or whatever he was - was standing in the doorway, casually watching them.

“Leave him,” he said in his deep voice. “I desire your company.”

Persephone swept past Kit without another word and draped herself across Hades. “Of course my darling- I am here. What shall we do?”

Hades took a moment to whisper into her ear and Persephone looked uncomfortable but let out a deep, throaty chuckle. “Of course.”

Hades smiled, with a devilish twist and he pulled her away, starting down the hall.

But then he stopped and looked back at Kit. “Your shift here has ended - get back on the assembly line.”

Kit looked down at his rough worker’s uniform, smeared with rust and dust and he forced himself to nod evenly - he knew from past experience that it was unwise to argue with Hades.

Hades’ firelit eyes swept over him. “And once that is over - come see me in my office.”

And at that, Kit knew that he was in trouble. Hades had summoned him twice since his arrival to his office, after the initial contract signing. Each time afterwards Kit had found himself weak and gasping on the floor outside, his mind blank and unsure of what had passed behind the walls of the office. Nothing good, he thought grimly - and that was likely the cause of his increasingly fuzzy memory recall.

He needed to escape and soon. He nodded again and Hades left with Persephone. Kit started to make his way to the factory floor. On his way out of the conservatory, he bumped into a small, bird-framed girl with a luminous beauty and whose too-large eyes must have been lively once but were now faded and glazed over with the thousand yard stare that all Hades’ workers had. That he might soon have. “What’s your name?” Kit asked the girl, trying not to sound desperate.

She looked up at him. “I- Eu- I…” she looked puzzled and sad. “I don’t know.” she said.

Kit felt a stab of despair.

Tag list: (let me know if you want to be added / removed!)

@jesse-is-spiraling @dontmindmyshadowhunting @sandersgrey @thechangeling

#kitty fanfiction #tsc fanfiction #kit herondale x ty blackthorn #kit herondale #ty blackthorn #my fanfic

[random18me]

My thoughts while watching the Shadowhunters finale: Alliance

- I hate how scared Jonathan sounds about losing his humanity. “I can’t feel anything anymore.”

- Also, I hate the Seelie Queen.

- Jonathan’s wings look amazing.

- I don’t want this show to end.

- I really want to care about the Clace scene, but the scene just feels weird somehow?

- I love Maryse.

- “Magnus is not dead.”

- “I have a wedding to plan.” I love that Alec has his priorities in order.

1. Save Magnus

2. Marry Magnus

3. Find/stop Jonathan

- Of course Lilith is here.

- So, it’s “Mr. Bane” now? Is it me, or does Lilith look a little scared of Magnus?

- Magnus looks so powerful in this scene and I love it.

- “So I can murder that matricidal nightmare I call a son.” You spent the entire first half of the season trying to resurrect him, and now you’re just going to kill him? He did try to kill you, so I guess it’s fair.

- Magnus sitting on that chair like it’s a throne. That’s it.

- Magnus is so powerful and I love it.

- “So sad.” I don’t know why that sounds so funny, but it is hilarious.

- Good for you Maia, I’m proud of you.

- “I was just gonna call you.” Literally.

- Yay :).

- Of course Izzy is hot. I mean on fire. I mean, literally on fire. Because something always has to go wrong.

- Lorenzo Rey as a lizard. That’s it.

- Hey, Helen is here.

- Is Izzy not allowed to be happy?

- “I’ll tell them myself.” So, I’m guessing you won’t tell them?

- “You were kissing my sister?”

- She didn’t tell them. Well, she told half, but she also lied, so, yeah.

- Jace looks so confused. “What is going on here?”

- “Isabelle and Simon were kissing when this happened.” Alec feels so weird about saying that, and that’s hilarious.

- Clary looks so proud of Simon. Like, she definitely approves.

- “I need you to turn me into a vampire...” Wow, Alec, calm down. Take it easy. Perhaps there are other, less drastic options? Also, Alec is willing to become a vampire so he can go save Magnus.

- Poor Jonathan. Also, kinda gross.

- Izzy is willing to risk her life to save Magnus, and I love her.

- I have a feeling I know where this is going and I Love It.

- Beautiful? Are you sure? It’s kinda really gross. I do like that it looks similar to how Lilith looked when we first saw her. Also, the claws? Why?

- I have hated Lorenzo this entire season, but for some reason I am really happy to see him.

- Lorenzo listen to Simon’s music? Alright, carry on.

- “If it weren’t for me, you’d still be eating dead flies.”

- “You sure one of you guys doesn’t want to go first?”

“Absolutely not.”

“No, thank you.”

I love how much confidence everyone has in Clary.

- Well, it worked.

- Alec with magic. That’s it.

- Jace is so jealous and sulky. Also, why does Meliorn always seems to be flirting with Jace? I’m not imagining that, right?

- Ephemeral. I’ve only ever heard that word once, in Teen Wolf.

- Of course they are split up.

- Perhaps you should try magic, Alec.

- Alec wearing the ring to help him calm down. Also, Lorenzo being surprisingly helpful and understanding.

- Bringing a leather jacket to Hell really does seem like a stupid idea.

- Meliorn looked so offended when Jace said/asked “You’re not hot?”

- Meliorn realising he’s about to have so much fun.

- “Are you sweating from the heat, or from fear?”

“From fear. I’m terrified.”

- Jace realising Meliorn is a Seelie, and so he’s connected to a Seelie, which means he can’t lie. Really, I’m disappointed in both Jace and myself for not predicting this.

- Meliorn is enjoying this so much, and so am I.

- Jonathan looks totally different with white hair. I really like that Luke Baines wanted to dye his hair for the finale, because it really helps to show that this Jonathan is different from the previous episodes, when he still had his humanity. He looks and acts much more evil now, while before you could definitely still see some good in him.

- Don’t kiss. Don’t kiss. Of course she was going to kiss him. I’m glad he totally didn’t care though.

- “Okay.”

“Stop.”

“One more question.”

“No.”

“A serious question.”

“Please, stop.”

I love Meliorn.

- I told you Meliorn always seems to be flirting.

- “Like a nine.”

- This fight is so good. They fight together really well.

- Izzy to the rescue.

- No, Izzy, you’re not fine.

- Who the hell is...? Is that Luke? It doesn’t look like Luke. It sounds like Luke. Are we sure that this is Luke?

- The music. The hug. “I thought I’d never see you again.” “I told you, it’s only Edom.”

- “Then I stay here with you.” First Alec is willing to become a vampire for Magnus. Then, he’s willing to stay in Hell for Magnus. These two really are hopelessly in love.

- He said it. He called her “Biscuit.” That just makes me so happy.

- “It’s okay. I get it. He’s a good guy. He’s been through so much already. It’s lucky he’s tougher than he looks. I actually always kind of admired that about him.” I had no idea how much I wanted Jace to say those things about Simon.

- The look Jace has when he realises what he just said.

This episode was amazing. I’m not ready for this show to end.

#shadowhunters #shadowhunters 3x21 #clary fray #clary fairchild #jace herondale #alec lightwood #magnus bane #malec #clace #isabelle lightwood #simon lewis #sizzy #meliorn #maryse lightwood #jonathan christopher morgenstern #jonathan morgenstern #luke baines #lilith

[emjenenla]

Concept for a TMI Fic where Jace isn’t sent to live with the Lightwoods

Instead of growing fed up with Jace’s innate angel-blood goodness, Valentine decides to continue molding Jace in his own image and therefore doesn’t fake his own death. He and Jace continue living at the Wayland manor and eventually Valentine gets bold and brings Sebastian to live there too.

By the time CoB rolls around, Jace and Sebastian know they’re not brothers, they know that Jace has angel blood and Sebastian has demon blood and they know who Valentine really is.

Valentine treats them both as his sons and never tells them which is the real Jonathan Christopher Morgenstern. That said, they both figure that Sebastian is Valentine’s biological son because he’s the one who looks like Valentine. Jace doesn’t know who his biological parents are, but lowkey believes that really is Michael Wayland’s son.

There’s a lot of animosity between Jace and Sebastian because both are terribly jealous of each other, Sebastian because it’s he knows Valentine likes Jace better, and Jace because Sebastian is more useful to the cause. It doesn’t help that Valentine likes to pit them against each other and tends to only speak affectionately about one when talking to the other. He might be trying to make sure they don’t join up against him or maybe he’s just a dick. Who knows.

It’s worth noting that in this AU, both Jace and Sebastian go by Jonathan because neither has ever had the opportunity to come up with something else. Don’t ask me how Valentine deals with that, maybe he calls one Jonathan Christopher and one just Jonathan.

Jace does a lot of Valentine’s undercover work in the wider Shadowhunter world because everyone believes he’s really Jonathan Wayland. He sustains the fiction that Valentine is really Michael Wayland through careful use of lies and stories.

This leads to some embarrassment because Jace doesn’t have a lot of social skills. Valentine spent a lot of time teaching Sebastian to act the way people expect, he didn’t invest that kind of energy in Jace because he figured Jace’s angel-blood hyper-empathy would be enough. That doesn’t change the fact that the only people Jace has ever interacted with more than tangentially are Valentine and Sebastian, neither of whom are good models for social interaction. As a result, Jace doesn’t know how to talk to people. He eventually learns to cultivate an air of arrogance and general disinterest in other people which covers how utterly confused he is most of the time.

Also while Valentine does “love” Jace more (I put that in quotations because it’s Valentine), he’s very explicit about the fact that Jace’s angel attributes are not really all that helpful. His rhetoric is very “You were too gentle. Too empathic. You felt others’ pain as if it were your own; you couldn’t even bear the death of your pets. Understand this, my son–I love you for those things. But the very things I loved about you made you no use to me” (City of Glass pp. 485) with Jace. As a result, Jace hates himself at least as much as he does in canon. He thinks he’s weak and pathetic and overly emotional and is convinced that he’ll ruin everything if he allows himself to feel anything.

Things really get started when Valentine figures out where Jocelyn and Clary are. However, when they show up, Clary is at the poetry reading with Simon and Jocelyn puts herself in a magical coma just like in canon.

Valentine and Sebastian take Jocelyn and Valentine orders Jace to find Clary and bring her back as well. Jace lingers until Clary comes back after the hurried phone call from Jocelyn. He steps in after she kills the demon and attempts to take her back to Valentine before being intercepted by Simon and Luke (who Simon called when Clary went missing). Jace leaves Clary and flees. Valentine is very displeased, but at least Luke only saw Jace’s back (Simon can’t see through glamours at this point) and therefore couldn’t describe him.

Because Clary has been poisoned by the demon, Luke has no choice but to take her to the Institute, which is how she and Simon meet the Lightwoods.

A lot of the plot here moves similar to how it does in canon minus Jace. Clary, Simon, Isabelle and Alec go to Magnus’s party to get Clary’s memories back. Simon gets turned into a rat and Clary forces both Izzy and Alec to help her rescue Simon from the Hotel Dumort. Alec and Magnus get together basically as they do in canon, though the added angst of Alec’s feelings for Jace isn’t there. Alec is also a lot nicer to Clary in this universe because he has no reason to be jealous of her.

The same general thing happens in CoA. Simon definitely becomes a vampire.

Things really derail until CoG. Clary, Simon and the others all end up in Idris and it’s Valentine’s time to strike. He sends both Jace and Sebastian into the city on different tasks. Sebastian is to masquerade as Sebastian Verlac and take down the demon towers while Jace’s job is to convince Clary to come off with him to a place where Valentine can snatch her.

That’s how both of Valentine’s “sons” make the acquaintance of Clary and Co. No one suspects them of being in league with Valentine.

Jace and Clary grow closer and Jace starts to fall in love with her which he hates himself for because he’s supposed to be manipulating her for the good of the cause not developing feelings for her. He sees the fact that he’s getting attached to her as more proof of his perceived weakness.

Also, the blossoming of feelings between Clary and Jace do not go unnoticed by Sebastian who obviously thinks Clary belongs to him. This causes so much tension between them that they almost blow their covers. Perhaps someone (Alec?) starts to doubt that things are on the up-and-up with them.

On the day Sebastian is going to take down the demon towers, Jace convinces Clary to come to the Wayland manor to “meet my father.” Surprise, Valentine is waiting there and promises that Clary will learn to see things his way. He raves about how he’s going to get Jocelyn back and they’re all going to be the perfect family in the perfect new world. Then he locks Clary in the manor and goes to complete his plans, leaving Jace to make sure Clary doesn’t escape until Sebastian gets back to take over.

Eventually Clary convinces Jace that what Valentine is going to do is wrong and should be stopped (note that this would have to be the cumulation of character development which would have been going on for most of this story). She and Jace leave the manor and portal to the place where Valentine and Sebastian have gathered to summon the demons.

Jace holds Sebastian off while Clary chases Valentine to Lake Lyn. She attempts to fight Valentine but doesn’t have enough training to be a match for him.

Jace shows up after having killed Sebastian (possibly with Izzy’s help like in canon) and declares his intention to kill Valentine. Valentine insults him and plays off his insecurities before stabbing Jace with the Mortal Sword. Turns out he was always planning to sacrifice Jace to raise Raziel which was why he was going to send Sebastian to take over guarding Clary. By coming to stop him, Clary and Jace have sort of played right into Valentine’s hands.

Clary changes the runes and takes over the spell just like in canon. Raziel kills Valentine and brings Jace back to life at Clary’s request. Clary releases that if the Clave figures out Jace was working with Valentine the fact that he switched sides won’t matter and they’ll persecute him in Valentine and Sebastian’s places which is an outcome she refuses to accept.

Clary decides that they just won’t tell anyone Jace was working with Valentine. After all, as far as they both know he is Jonathan Wayland. There’s the minor problem that everyone’s going to figure out Michael Wayland is dead now, but it’s kind of unbelievable that Valentine managed to maintain that ruse for fifteen years so they can just say that Michael’s only been dead a couple months.

After a little convincing Jace agrees and they make up a story about how they were both lured to the Wayland Manor by a false note supposedly from the recently deceased Michael Wayland, then escaped the manor and went after Valentine and Sebastian. The Clave believes them (I mean, Valentine’s dead after all and they didn’t test either of them with the Mortal Sword in canon) and Jace is sent to live with the Lightwoods at the New York Institute. Everything seems perfect.

Except that there’s a demon who wants to resurrect the Shadowhunter boy she views as her son, and Jace no longer has his protective spells…

#the shadowhunter chronicles #the mortal instruments #fanfiction #fanfic #fanfic concept #jace herondale #sebastian morgenstern #valentine morgenstern #clary fairchild #clace #clary x jace #we'll all pretend I didn't write this like this because I was too lazy to write it in full #Emjen writes

[astupidblabberingmess]

It’s almost time for Queen and I just wanted to share the theories I have. This is going to be long, so I’ll divide it into paragraphs. I also have a somewhat wild theory about Annabel and the Unseelie King that I kind of hope is true, which is probably not the case (who knows though). 

Ash as Sebastian Morgenstern & the Seelie Queen's son

When the theory first came up, I was rolling my eyes because, really? ANOTHER Morgenstern? But with all the information we have at this point, what else would he be? I think the question we should ask ourselves is less “Is Ash a Morgenstern?” and more “Is he the weapon Clary and Jace were looking for and if so, why?” 

I think he is, but I doubt he’s evil. Not only would that be too predictable to have another evil Morgenstern, but he’s also introduced in a way that sets him up to be Dru’s love interest for TWP. I believe he’s either a total cinnamon roll (which would be so ironic and amazing) or a morally ambiguous character. 

But why could he be a weapon? Even if he were evil, that wouldn’t automatically make him a weapon. He could be one in the traditional sense that he can do something special. It’s not unlikely, considering he’s the son of one of the most powerful faeries alive and a demon-blooded Shadowhunter. But it could also be in the sense that as the Seelie Queen’s son, having him under your control means having power over her, which is probably why the Unseelie King has him.  

What I don’t see, however, is Clary and Jace trying to kidnap a child to have power over the Seelie Queen. But the mission came from the Clave and they would definitely do something like that and maybe Clary and Jace don’t know the true reason or they do and are trying to save Ash. Especially if he truly has special powers, they would want to prevent him from using them for evil. 

Also, one of my theories is that the Seelie Queen won’t survive or at least won’t stay a queen in QoAaD (more on that later), so I don’t think he’ll go back to her or maybe he does but not as a prince. I definitely don’t think he’ll stay in the Unseelie Court. But will he be with the Shadowhunters (as he could be trained as one, like Mark and Helen) or stay in Faerie? I have a lot of theories about Faerie (again, more on that later), so it’s difficult to guess what might happen. There are a lot of possible outcomes when it comes to Ash, he has the potential to be a villain, a love interest, a friend, an ally, or something in between.

The Unseelie Queen

I believe Annabel either is or will be the Unseelie Queen. This is the last book in a trilogy and yet the Unseelie Queen was never mentioned before, except for a drawing in the Shadowhunter Codex. Would Cassie introduce an important character in the last book of a series? I don’t think so. Also, I’ve read on here a while ago (but sadly don’t remember who made that post) that apparently Queen of Air and Darkness is another name for the Unseelie Queen in folklore, which I googled to check if it’s true and it did come up, though it doesn’t seem that common. And the Queen of Air and Darkness has, according to Cassie, already been introduced. Which makes it quite obvious to me that the Queen of Air and Darkness has to be Annabel, which should mean that Annabel has to be the Unseelie Queen.

And this is how we come to my somewhat wild theory: I think that maybe things are completely different than we think and Annabel has been evil all along and was always, even before her death, in league with the Unseelie King! 

I know, I know, but hear me out: Annabel could have met the Unseelie King through Malcolm, which means they could’ve fallen in love. Maybe they even got married, and the Unseelie Queen depicted in the Shadowhunter Codex is actually Annabel Blackthorn! Perhaps that’s why nobody has ever mentioned or seen the Unseelie Queen, at least not ever since Annabel’s death: because for centuries, she was dead.

How did I come up with that? There’s a scene in LoS that I can’t find a reasonable explanation for unless the Unseelie King loves Annabel: Annabel tells the Riders of Mannan that she knows the Unseelie King’s true name. Now, it could’ve been a bluff, but the Riders are ancient beings, so I doubt they’d be easy to trick. Which is why I think she wasn’t bluffing and they knew, maybe they recognised her and knew she was in league with the Unseelie King, so they left because they thought whatever she was doing was a ploy in favour of the fae. Besides, Cassie never reveals such things randomly. If a character says they know the Unseelie King’s name, it’s likely that they do and that we will eventually hear it too.

So how would Annabel, a Shadowhunter, know it? I assume the only people that ever knew the King’s true name would be close family members (maybe only his parents) or considering how deeply faeries love, someone he genuinely loves and trusts. I also assume that as soon as he feels like someone who knows his name is posing a threat, the King would make sure they’re killed. Which means the only way Annabel could know the Unseelie King’s name would be if someone told her. Who would tell her, she’s a random Shadowhunter! Unless the Unseelie King told her himself because he truly loves her.   

“But Malcolm and Annabel were in love!”, I hear you say. Well, we know Malcolm loved Annabel but who’s to say she truly loved him? She did kill him when he resurrected her and yes, it was explained by her being angry and mad and suffering all these years, so her love turned into hate, but even so it would’ve been a lot easier to kill him if she truly didn’t care for him at all. She could’ve pretended to be in love with him because the Unseelie King needed the Black Volume of the Dead and she needed Malcolm to steal it. 

“But why didn’t the Unseelie King save Annabel if he loved her?”, you may argue. If I understood correctly, Malcolm and Annabel weren’t held at the same place. I assume the Unseelie King either couldn’t find Annabel or his magic couldn’t save her. After all, Downworlders are often held and brought to different places because Shadowhunters don’t want to “taint” their special places with their “Downworlder filth”, which was likely even more the case in the 19th century. So, the Unseelie King saved Malcolm instead and tried to use him to find Annabel. I’m not sure when and how he found out about her death but if he loved her, he probably wanted her resurrected. But if he didn’t know how to raise Annabel from the dead or couldn’t do it himself, he would’ve needed someone he could trust to want her back as much as he does—Malcolm Fade.

And now you may say, “Okay, but wasn’t the Unseelie King after the Black Volume and not Annabel?” Hm, if the Unseelie King was after the Black Volume alone, he wouldn’t have needed Annabel and therefore why would he let Malcolm even attempt to resurrect her? Especially once he died and it fell in the water, he could’ve easily retrieved it. Why allow him to keep it and resurrect some random Shadowhunter? Unless said Shadowhunter was important to the Unseelie King too. Maybe he even used his magic to help Malcolm put himself together to complete the ritual. 

Now, I’m not sure what I believe Annabel’s motives were after being resurrected. Maybe she was still in love with the Unseelie King and everything she did was in partnership with him. Maybe she was genuinely mad at the King, so she hid the Black Volume not just from the Shadowhunters but also from him, hurt that he let her suffer for so long. Maybe she was angry with him at first but later started working with him, either before or after the mess that was the last scene of LoS. 

Possibility One: Annabel took the Black Volume and went right to the Unseelie King with it upon being resurrected. I find it interesting that she was communicating with faeries. Why would faeries talk to a Shadowhunter? Why would a former Shadowhunter talk to faeries? Would she not stay away from Shadowhunters, warlocks AND faeries considering they were the ones that caused her suffering? I couldn’t figure out whether piskies are Seelie or Unseelie but if they are both and especially if they are Unseelie, the interactions would make a lot of sense. And considering they sent Julian and Emma to a place where a demon was waiting for them, it makes you think about her/their true motives … Yes, later Annabel saved them from the Riders of Mannan and went along with them to Idris but perhaps they wanted to stop the Cohort or there was another ploy going on, possibly to do with the Blight or something we don’t know about yet, so she went along and it was the plan all along that she acted all mad. Or they planned to do something, but she went genuinely mad, triggered by the Cohort. It would explain how the Unseelie King knew Annabel was in Idris and saved her. 

Possibility Two: Annabel was furious with both Malcolm and the Shadowhunters AND the Unseelie King and wanted to hide from the world. When there was a chance of redemption, she, knowing the Unseelie King wouldn’t give up on her and everyone would keep hunting for her since she had the Black Volume, tried to get it to finally be left alone and be accepted back into Shadowhunter society and live out her life in peace. Her threats to the Unseelie King were genuine in that case and she genuinely went mad too. The Unseelie King spirited her away out of love in this scenario as well and I think they made amends after that. Or he’s now mad his Queen acted against him. 

Either way, Annabel ends up back with the Unseelie King as his Queen. If this admittedly wild theory is correct, I assume the first version of it is more likely and Annabel always acted in collaboration with the Unseelie King. Cassie also said there’s a reason Annabel’s runes aren’t on the cover and her finger isn’t missing. Maybe by wearing the Unseelie crown (again?), she changes physically? I mean, we don’t know much about faerie magic, but we do know objects often hold certain powers, like Gwyn’s cloak for example. 

Cassie described Annabel as a villain. Unless my theory is correct, she hasn’t been one so far. Sure, she killed Livvy, but that was because she went mad. It wasn’t really a villainous action. Besides, I’m certain she either is or will be the Unseelie Queen. And if she’s just mad, how will that happen? The King manipulating her? It’s not impossible but what would he have to gain with her as the Unseelie Queen? That would certainly give her power. Would he really give a mad Shadowhunter power? I don’t think so. Besides, I kind of like the idea of Annabel being in league with the Unseelie King, it would be an amazing plot twist and let everything shine in a new light while still making sense and making it even more plausible to have her be the Unseelie Queen aka Queen of Air and Darkness aka the ultimate villain. 

Ty, necromancy & why Kitty is doomed

I definitely think Ty is going to attempt to resurrect Livvy and I definitely think it’s going to somehow put him in a situation that by the end of Queen will separate him from Kit. Unless they truly start out as a couple in TWP (which would be awesome too, but Cassie is all about angst, so unlikely), they have to be separated somehow. It’s clear they’re attracted to each other, there’s no way over the course of three years they won’t start dating unless something happens in Queen that changes things. Maybe Ty has to go on the run from the Clave because of his attempted necromancy, maybe Kit has to go on the run because he’s still hunted for being the descendant of the First Heir, or maybe Kit tries to stop Ty and they end up fighting and separating that way. I worry about the latter coming true because we’ve seen snippets that hint at Kit sabotaging Ty’s attempts. If they loved each other but were physically separated, I could live with that more than a Kitty fallout. 

I don't think Livvy will be back completely, probably shortly as a ghost. So far, all necromancy in the books had horrible consequences and I think except for Jace, nobody stayed alive (Annabel still is but she surely won’t survive Queen). The books are basically teaching us that the dead should stay dead and if they don't, there's a price to pay. Cassie can't use the same Jace plot again with Livvy and I don't think she'll make her death even more painful by necromancy turning Livvy into a monster or zombie of some sort. I think it'll just be a way for the Blackthorns or just Ty to get closure and speak to Livvy one last time. Or maybe for Livvy to finish what she attempted to say when she died. Bringing her back completely would be way too easy and take away the pain her death caused. 

Off-topic, but the only thing I don't like about Cassie's books is all the necromancy and dead characters turning out to not be dead after all because it makes death less of a final thing. You never know if a bad or good character may end up returning a few chapters or books later and that's something I hate. Cassie has been using this kind of thing as a plot device way too often already. I love Livvy and her death broke my heart, but can’t she just stay dead? We know she does come back in some way, maybe temporarily, but ugh, it’s so boring at this point. Jace and Sebastian were actually dead and resurrected, Malcolm was sort of resurrected for a short while, Annabel was resurrected, Jesse might be resurrected in TLH, Shade is most likely a character we thought was dead (more on that later), several dead characters appeared as ghosts and one of them is still sort of around by guarding the London Institute. It’s a little too much dead characters coming back and if it’s just to have a bittersweet moment of goodbye. Challenge for Cassie in TWP: no necromancy, no character thought dead returns, no new ghosts appearing. Can she do it? I’m not getting my hopes up. 

Kierarktina aka Hot Faerie Threesome 

I wasn't convinced this would be a thing at first but re-reading the first scenes with all three of them in Lady Midnight there are hints already with Cristina feeling desire when she sees Kieran and Mark kiss. And that continues throughout LoS and the snippets we’ve been getting from Queen. With every other author I'd call it teasing but Cassie has never done things like that and always delivered when it comes to hints at representation, so I can't imagine her teasing a threeway relationship like that and not making it canon. I worry it may only last for a short while though and one of them dies, but I really hope not. I just have this feeling it’ll be canon and I really hope I’m right.

Shade as Ragnor Fell 

There are only two green warlocks that we know of and Cassie has confirmed we’ve already met Shade. The fact alone that he calls himself Shade makes it obvious to me that he isn't John Shade because how stupid would that be? It also makes no sense that he would appear and especially not that he'd help Shadowhunters because he fucking hated them. Ragnor, on the other hand, makes a lot of sense. 

I think it was in "Son of Dawn", where Ragnor is one of the warlocks Jem asks for information about the Lost Herondale, it links Ragnor to the current plot in TDA. I even came up with a theory as to how and why he could've faked his death without Magnus knowing (we know Magnus doesn’t know because he literally thinks and talks about his grief for Ragnor with Catarina). 

Remember how Jem was attacked in "A Deeper Love" by faeries for knowing too much? If Ragnor truly had information, it would make him a target too. Which is why I think, Ragnor may have been hiding in Idris and eventually the fey were too close and he knew he had to do something drastic. He probably didn't want to endanger his friends or asked only one of them to help him (Raphael?), so he made himself appear dead somehow, even to a warlock like Magnus. He made sure he could still get the information about the cure for Jocelyn out there, knowing one of his warlock friends would eventually check on him, so he passed the information on via enchanted message.  When the fey arrived, they found him already “dead” and left. Then Sebastian arrived, found him “dead” as well and claimed it was him (making it even easier for Ragnor to hide from the faeries because they would believe Sebastian had killed him). Why would Sebastian lie about it? Easy, he didn’t want to admit to his father or anyone that he’d been too late and Ragnor was already dead. Literally why wouldn't Sebastian lie? Or Sebastian was actually WITH the faeries that wanted Ragnor dead since they did have an alliance later on. In that case they would’ve collectively decided Sebastian would take the blame (or glory depending on who you ask), so they would not raise any suspicion to Jem. Though in this case I wonder who they suspected to be Ragnor’s actual killer. 

Parabatai bond resolved 

I think all bonds will break. What else could change the Shadow World forever? A law could always be changed back but we know if the parabatai bonds are broken, they’re going to stay broken. And it is a thing that makes Shadowhunters stronger, so it’s likely it’ll change the dynamics. 

After the snippet with Julian worrying about Emma’s marks, a lot of people are worried Emma will be stripped of her runes, but it was already said that she couldn’t live not being a Shadowhunter. So, unless she’s going to die, I don’t think it’ll happen and I have a feeling she won’t die. It’s also too obvious. I don’t think Cassie would’ve shared a snippet like that if Emma was going to be deruned. 

I think maybe it isn’t Julian but Emma who breaks the parabatai bonds (there’s a moment where she wonders if the bond could be evil, maybe she finds out that’s the case and decides to break all the bonds because of it) and maybe that’s the scene where Julian finds out. Though it does strike me as odd that he says “marks”. Maybe by breaking the parabatai bonds, something happens to runes in general or because Emma is the one, something happens to her? Or the scene has nothing to do with that and her marks change because of the curse that her loving Julian puts on them. 

Cristina as the Seelie Queen 

I’m leaning even more towards this after reading Cassie’s answer about the Seelie Queen narrating the epilogue. It’s the series finale, it’s not going to end in a cliff hanger, even if as Cassie has said not all fates are great, the story has to be complete. If we think of TMI, the ending was a true ending without any sort of cliff hanger, the main characters were all safe and okay. But there were still the fates of the TDA characters that weren’t great and hinted at more story to come (with Helen in exile, Mark in the Wild Hunt, Emma and Julian in love but on the path of becoming parabatai, etc.). Which is how I think TDA will end too. How does the epilogue being narrated by the Seelie Queen fit into that? 

And I’ve actually been thinking about Cristina as the Seelie Queen before because all her interest in and ties to faeries have to have a deeper meaning than her being in a love triangle with two faeries. Cristina hasn’t been in a significant plot outside of her love triangle so far but she’s a main character and she knows enough about Faerie to survive there. So what if she snatches the Queen’s crown and by default becomes the Seelie Queen? Makes me wonder how the faeries are going to react when a Shadowhunter seizes the position of their queen but do they have a choice but to follow her? As I said earlier, certain faerie objects tend to give people powers, so there might not be anything the fey could do but try and trick Cristina back. Or maybe they come to like and appreciate her as their queen because she doesn’t act like an entitled Shadowhunter but actually tries to live by their rules and their ways (without compromising her own morals of course). It could also mean the epilogue takes place in the Seelie Court and may be some celebration held by Cristina, maybe even her crowning ceremony (my friend suggested that btw). 

Kieran as the Unseelie King 

Now ever since that revelation about Kit being the descendant of the Unseelie King AND Seelie Queen, I’ve been doubting whether Kieran would actually end up as the Unseelie King but since Cassie said that Kit’s heritage will affect him more in TWP, I doubt he’s going to become the Unseelie King or King of all Faeries in QoAaD. That would mean he’d start out as a powerful King when TWP starts, which is an unlikely position for a protagonist. 

So either the Unseelie King simply stays in power or it’s Kieran who replaces him. We know how much he was liked in the Unseelie Court, so he probably would have enough support for it to work. And he has no place to go at the moment, so unless Cassie plans on killing him, which I still worry about, but I also assume she’ll make the hot faerie threesome canon, he pretty much has to become the Unseelie King. He can’t stay with the Shadowhunters, but he’d face execution in Faerie if the Unseelie King stayed in power. Well, I guess if Cristina becomes the Seelie Queen, Kieran would live with her in the Seelie Court and be safe there … 

Connecting this theory with Cristina being the Seelie Queen and Kierarktina being canon (or even just Kiertina), they might end up reuniting the Courts. There was a snippet in which it happens, so maybe it’s not Kieran and Cristina that are reuniting them, unless that snippet somehow is closer to the end of QoAaD. Either way, it would be cool having Kieran as the Unseelie King, Cristina as the Seelie Queen, Mark as, well, Mark—living together and loving each other and ruling over all of Faerie. It would also make them conveniently absent in TWP. But maybe this is would be too good to be true. 

Death predictions 

(Probably) Won't die: the TMI main characters, Jem and Tessa, and the confirmed TWP characters (if Cassie plans on killing main characters from other series, it’s going to happen in TWP, not TDA); Diana (she's the only trans character, Cassie won't kill her); Helen and Aline (she won’t kill them as they just came back and are the only f/f couple); Tavvy (he almost died in LM already, it would mean yet another Blackthorn dies and it would be Max 2.0, way too predictable), Emma (I genuinely don't think she'll die, it's a gut feeling) 

(Probably) Will die: Diego (I'm sure of this, he’s just the kind of character that is destined to die and after a certain snippet, I assume he’s the one that’s going to be executed); Annabel (I just don't see a version where she comes out of this alive)   

On the fence about it: Jia (because of the scene where Jace nominates Alec for Consul but maybe she just steps down voluntarily, after all, Cassie has killed so many Consuls already), Julian (I used to believe he would die, possibly executed for breaking the parabatai bonds but now I’m leaning more toward Emma breaking them and Diego being executed and it just seems more and more unlikely he’ll die but who knows); Mark, Cristina or Kieran (I do believe Kierarktina will be canon but it might be short lived and I really wouldn’t rule out that one of them dies but I’m certain at least two of them will live and I’m hoping they all survive); Cameron (he’s not very liked and since he was behind a plot point, it could lead to his death because that would mean he’s more involved than we thought he was); Zara or Horace (I think it’s likely only one of them dies, I’m leaning toward Zara because having a bigot as the Inquisitor for TWP would certainly make it harder for everyone, especially if he’s getting even worse out of grief and Zara could die because she’s just not that good of a Shadowhunter and way too horrible to continue doing what she does); Gwyn (I don’t really think Cassie will kill the love interest of the only trans character but she doesn’t reveal information that Gwyn’s power is in his cloak for no reason and it makes me believe that at the very least he won’t stay the leader of the Wild Hunt for much longer), the Seelie Queen and/or the Unseelie King (I feel like at least one of them will die if not both and if they both live, I think at least one of them will lose their position as monarch) 

And that’s it! Did anyone actually read this? I don’t even care, I just needed to write down my thoughts and after spending so much time doing it, I really felt like it would be a waste not to post them. 

#queen of air and darkness #qoaad theories #the dark artifices #tda #qoaad #gotsm spoilers #qoaad spoilers #the shadowhunter chronicles

[booksareawayoflife]

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

‘Haunted by her past, Clary is dragged deeper into New York City’s terrifying underworld of demons and Shadowhunters - but can she control her feelings for a boy who can never be hers?’

 Book Review: no spoilers

This part of the review will have no spoilers. Since reading this book years ago, I had forgotten what happened, so it was like reading it for the first time for me. I do think that this book was a good set up for what is going to happen in the next book, but in no way does it suffer from second book syndrome. It was a solid book on it’s own, which I am so happy to say. I want this series to be on my favourites of all time, and so far it has the capability if being on it.

You really see the development of the characters in this book. You see that their relationships have grown, and there’s banter between characters. It’s really nice to read their growing relationships, as our love for them grows too. In terms of plot, it was both surprising, and predictable. The set up was predictable, but the events leading up to the set up was unexpected. Basically, until you saw the set up, you have no idea what was going to happen next. Humour is still a fundamental part of the book, which I absolutely loved. It wasn’t as funny as City of Bones, but I still love the fact that these books have the capability to make me chuckle. City of Ashes is more serious than City of Bones, so I hope that the next book still has funny moments too, and plenty of innuendos.

Overall, I give this book 9/10 or 4.5/5. It was a good book. Definitely better than average, because I enjoyed every minute I was reading this book. I just enjoyed City of Bones more, so that is currently the standard of which a TMI book has to beat. I’m looking forward to reading City of Glass, because I remember liking that book the best.

 SPOILERS:

From here on out, I’ll be talking more in depth on the specifics of the book. If you haven’t read this series, or this book, I would recommend not reading any further.

Plot/writing - I do think the plot of this book was better than City of Bones, in general, but I enjoyed City of Bones more because it was more light-hearted, and less serious. I was surprised to find out that it had only been a week since Magnus’s party in City of Bones. It feels a lot longer than that. I wasn’t expecting Simon to turn into a vampire when he did, so it was a surprise, but I do think that the execution of it did fall flat. I wish that we saw more of a conflicted Clary when it came to deciding if Simon should be resurrected, and a more heartbroken Clary over the fact that Simon was dead. For a person who just found out that her best friend in the world has died, she was pretty rational. I wanted her to be devastated, and go a bit crazy, but she was collected enough to decide to allow Simon to turn. I don’t think that I would have been able to react as well as she did, under that situation. But, I did almost try in that section. So it was good writing. I really liked the beginning of this book. I liked how it started in mid-conversation, it makes the reader feel a part of it. And, the first thing you see is the banter between the Shadowhunters, and I love it. Their friendships/relationships is what I live for. I think that Cassandra Clare captures what it means to be a teenager perfectly. Talking about teenagers, I found it hilarious when the 3 Shadowhunters (Alec, Clary, Isabelle) left the City of Bones, and encountered the adult Shadowhunters because they did what the adults were about to do. In regards to the ending, I wish that we saw Alec/Magnus/Isabelle after the battle because I feel like Cassandra Clare just forgot about them, and focused too much on Clary.

Clary - I still like book Clary. I did think that she was an idiot when she drank the Faerie drink. You saw that setup from a mile off. The kiss with Jace also grossed me out, because they still think that they are related. One of my favourite facts that I learnt about Clary from this book, is that when she is ill, she watches CSI reruns. We’re the same. I think Clary should start to get training to be a Shadowhunter. I am getting tired of the others not wanting her to be on missions just because she is not trained. So train her then! She is a Shadowhunter!

Jace - I liked Jace more in this book because he is vulnerable. You see a different side to him, than the one that he tries to portray. I love the fact that you see how much he cares about Clary, and how much he worries about her. I was a bit grossed out when he suggested being more than just siblings (even though that I know that they aren’t related. It’s just creepy knowing that they think that they are related). I do think that if Jace wasn’t so prickly, people would have believed him when he said that he wasn’t working for Valentine. But, I can understand why Jace would be so prickly, because he felt like his support network was just crumbling, so he is going to lash out.

Simon - I still liked Simon by the end of this book, which is a plus. I disliked him a bit in the beginning (when he was still a mundane), because he basically kissed Clary without warning. But I can’t be mad at him, because Clary would have stopped him if she wanted him to stop... and it lead to them making out in her bedroom. I just think you should give a girl a bit of a heads up if you want to kiss them, like make sure they’re expecting it. I also didn’t like it when Simon called Clary his girlfriend in front of everyone, before properly discussing it in private with her. But I guessed it worked out for him in the short-term. I ship Climon more in the TV show, because Simon seems more like a genuine sweetheart, and the perfect boyfriend. Book Simon is a little more rough around the edges. I did like Simon’s flirts though. They were good. Any man can use that on me anytime. I do love their friendship. I want a friendship as close as Clary, and Simon’s. I also liked how he retained his humour after his rebirth. Vampire Simon, and mundane Simon are pretty much the same person. But I think Simon is better as a Vampire, because he is capable of helping the others. I love the reveal of him being a daylighter. It was just so dramatic. I did feel for him a lot, when he decided to break up with Clary. They weren’t really going out in the first place, but he put her overall happiness over his own. He wanted her completely, or not at all, and I can respect that.

Alec - I’m liking Alec more in this book. I don’t like him nowhere near as much as TV show Alec, but that’s because he is more developed in the TV show, then he is in the book right now. I loved the hints that Alec was seeing Magnus, like Jace noticing Alec had a love bite. I also love the bromance between Alec, and Jace. You see that they really care for each other. But I didn’t like it when Alec was hesitant to reveal that he was in a relationship with Magnus, because he’s still in love with Jace. I don’t think Alec is still in love with Jace, but the fact that Clary said it... he probably is. I just feel that single line undermines Malec’s relationship from OTP to a rebound. I did love the suggestion that he messaged Magnus to come to the entrance of the City of Bones, and Magnus came! Really quickly too. He must have used a portal just to save the day for Alec. I also found it cute, that Magnus may have given Alec the key to his apartment. I wonder what they have been doing ;) I love the few Malec scenes we got in this book... BUT I NEED MORE. I want more Malec scenes in the next books. I also want Alec’s possible feelings for Jace to be resolved in a conversation with him. Alec, and the fearless rune is my favourite scene in this book. I wish that was in the TV show so badly.

Isabelle - Isabelle probably has the least character development in the series so far. Apart from being a female rival to Clary, and knowing that she has had relations with Meliorn -  she basically did nothing in this book. She did accompany the others on some outings, but I felt like her character either blended into the background, or wasn’t present during the important scenes. I am hoping for more development in the later books, because right now I don’t really like Isabelle.

Magnus - I love Magnus. I love the people behind the TV show too, because they actually used lines that Magnus said in the TV show! I respect the writers a lot more now, and I have a lot of faith regarding future Malec scenes. I did like Magnus getting a bit jealous of Jace, but I do want more emotions from Alec regarding Magnus. I also love the Madonna reference Magnus made, and it was so cute when Alec didn’t know who she was. I found it adorable that Magnus enchanted the contract with the clave to allow Alec to take Jace’s place, just so he can spend more time with Alec. When Magnus was like, “Why do you keep calling me? They’re cheaper warlocks to call.” I just raised my eyebrows like... stop tryna act cool. You know why you’re helping out. You’re doing it for Alec. When Jace went to Taki’s with Clary, I love how the werewolves were debating who would win in a fight Magnus or Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter. I would vote Magnus, because he is three centuries older than Dumbledore, and he can use magic without a wand. He’s still my favourite character.

Luke - I love how Luke basically became everybody’s father. I want to know a Luke now. I just love how supportive he is of everyone, because he knows their struggles. I liked how we saw more of him in this book, and I hope that trend continues.

Maia - I liked the background we got to Maia, before we were properly introduced to her. So far, I like her more in the books, than I do in the TV show. But, I just think it’s because book Maia hasn’t tried to kill Jace, like TV show Maia has. Jace isn’t my favourite character, but I don’t want him to die. I do think that the first scene that she has with Simon was unremarkable, but you can see that it is a setup for at least a friendship. I didn’t like her when she tried to kill Simon, but I saw that coming from a mile off, so I can’t really blame her. I liked the fact that she did try to make amends after she tried to kill him.

Valentine - Valentine does seem to be getting more unstable as the books go on. I do prefer the TV show making him an evil mastermind. In the books, Valentine just seems to be going crazy, with nothing keeping him in check. I hope he becomes a more ruthless bad guy in the next book.

Raphael - Raphael is one of my favourite characters in the TV show. I love the actor that plays him. Raphael is basically an anti-hero. He doesn’t want to be a hero, but he is. I loved seeing Raphael again, and I hope that we get to see more of him.

Maryse - I’m hardly surprised that I disliked Maryse from her introduction. We haven’t seen Maryse before the events in this book, so we haven’t seen her treat Jace like her son. So when she started to treat him with suspicion, and distrust, I disliked her instantly. Maryse has slightly grown on me in the TV show, but that’s more because we’ve seen her as a loving mother, and not just a bad one to Jace. She should have given him the benefit of the doubt, because she raised him. She would know if he was evil. I did like her more when she went to Jace to apologise, and convince him to stay at the Institute. That scene almost made me cry. I want some more Maryse, and Jace family scenes in the future.

Max - Max’s introduction was so cute. I hope to see more of him. I know what happens to him, because there was a bit of an uproar on how the TV Show decided to go with his character, so I am preventing myself from fully connecting with him.

Imogen Herondale - I didn’t like the Inquisitor, but I didn’t want her to die the way that she did. But I did think that it was foolish of her to try and have a conversation with Jace on a battlefield. I did feel for her though, when we found out what happened to her family. I do take solace in the fact that she knew that she had family in the world, before she died. I do wish that she got to know Jace better. I hope we get to see more of her in the TV show, because I want Jace to get to know his family better.

I literally can’t wait to start reading City of Glass. So I am going to do that now!

 Love Lou xx

#city of ashes #tmi #the mortal instruments #mortal instruments #shadowhunter chronicles #shadowhunters #cassandra clare #clare #book #books #novel #9 #book review #novel review #review #no spoilers #spoilers #book blog #series #book series #ya #ya book #young adult #young adult book #ya fantasy #fantasy #romance #young adult romance #young adult fantasy #clary fray

[takaraphoenix]

Shadowhunters Recap: Season 3

[all Shadowhunters Recaps here] @nightingalestakeflight​

Okay, here we go. Final season.

Magnus is no longer High Warlock, having been demoted after siding with the Seelie Queen during the war. He’s also an alcoholic now. Just, mentioning it here instead of repeating all the time how his drinking increases; he drinks more and more and more, becomes snarkier and isolates himself more this season, plagued with PTSD from the torture he had to endure while in Valentine’s body.

Meanwhile, a serial killer has started killing people. An ominous, dark figure whose face we do not see. It’s Jace. Because when they didn’t bother tracking down Jonathan’s body, he had summoned mommy dearest with his last strength and now Lilith is on Earth, seeking revenge on the one who had killed her baby boy. Conveniently, for her, Jace having died and coming back left him mentally weak and allows her to sneak in and manipulate him, possess him. Making him kill people without Jace noticing. All those kills aren’t just random; they serve as sacrifices so she can bring Jonathan back to life.

The new High Warlock replacing Magnus has a bit of a cock-measuring contest with Magnus going on. Bit funny, bit annoying. Same can be said about him.

(Lorenzo Rey, funny but annoying to equal parts.)

Relationship update: Jace and Clary are now officially dating, Simon is now dating Maia, Isabelle has a very short-lived thing with a mundie named Charlie, Magnus and Alec are back at it as of the last season’s finale and they are now rekindling things with Maryse (remember: mommy dearest made a 180° after ditching her cheating husband. It cured her homophobia and racism!).

Raphael’s sister dies. She was old, so no funny business there. Just... a very heartbreaking moment for Raphael, in which he finds (platonic) comfort from Isabelle, showing the two rekindled after the whole addiction-to-each-other.

His sister’s death triggers an urge in Raphael. He missed so much with her, including her funeral because it happens during the day. He becomes obsessed with curing his vampirism. For that, he starts experimenting on this girl, Heidi, because she had been accidentally sired by Simon (remember how Simon was accused of murder for a hot second? She was the murdered party! But she’s not dead. Just a vampire now). After escaping from Raphael, Heidi naturally wants revenge. Most people don’t take well to being locked up and tortured.

Jace all the while starts to think he’s losing his mind. He has visions of Jonathan, can’t sleep, has these blackouts that he can’t explain. He talks to Luke, who had been friends with Jace’s biological parents. Turns out his biological mother had some serious mental issues and was suicidal too; naturally, the show doesn’t name what exactly she had, it’s just vaguely suicidal problems, as TV shows like doing. Natural conclusion that he comes to is that he has the same mental issues (which, I do consider canon anyway; boy’s been suicidal for two seasons now).

He’s ready to seek professional help... but Clary stops him from doing so, claiming she can find a “better” solution. That solution is to summon the angel that Clary and Jace had freed from Valentine’s imprisonment - promptly getting him killed by Lilith without getting actual answers.

Simon all the while has his own issues. He has a suspicious roommate named Kyle and when him and Simon investigate the guy, they find out that he is actually Kyle Jordan, Maia’s ex who turned her, and he was sent by the werewolf council to keep an eye on Simon, because aside from being a Daylighter and thus walking in the daylight, Simon now bears something called the Mark of Cain that makes him indestructible. Remember how last season finale, Simon made that deal to stay in the Seelie Realm? Yeah, the Seelie Queen used that to place this mark on Simon and then kind of let him go again.

Magnus does the so far dumbest thing he’s ever done by brewing an anti love potion; a potion that will make someone fall out of love and forget that love. Because Lilith gives him a fake name and a fake story that appeals to him. Magic this powerful that affects someone who has no say in this... should maybe, I don’t know, get screened first. Lilith needs the potion because supposedly Jace’s love for Clary prevents her from fully possessing him. She slips him the potion when they meet up in a bar.

Alec and Magnus have yet another argument, this time about Magnus’ immortality. Where Alec only now realizes that dating an immortal means... dating an immortal. And where Magnus mocks him for only realizing that now. Both have a point. They never address this issue again and also never propose any kind of solution or approach to go about this, at all.

Everyone finally learns that Jace died. Which had been kept a secret... uh... for plot-reasons, I guess. Not for logic reasons, for sure. Especially since everyone had seen Alec’s parabatai rune fade when Jace had died. But Jace is now fully possessed so Clary finally comes clean.

Jace, now fully possessed and for some reason being referred to as the Owl (it does not look like an Owl. I would provide a visual at this point, but quite frankly, that shit was nightmare fuel so I’ll spare you), goes and kills Imogen Herondale. Also known as Jace’s only family.

After that, Alec, Izzy and Clary manage to capture him, locking him up and bringing him to Magnus to fix him. Which is much harder than anticipated. He sends Isabelle and Alec inside Jace’s mind, where they realize Lilith has been mentally torturing Jace too by making him kill Clary over and over and over again. This season, basically, just piles trauma after trauma onto Jace. They manage to get him back, buuut then Lilith knocks out Magnus and kidnaps Jace.

Clary gets arrested for high treason, since she summoned the angel and used the holy wish for selfish reasons to bring Jace back to life, getting her sentenced to death. She, uh, gets out of this - let me stress this: this death sentence she got for reviving someone - by reviving Valentine, because the Clave has some questions for him still. Zombie Valentine does for a great distraction and Jace-as-the-Owl breaks in and kidnaps Clary.

Because Jace is not the only one Lilith is angry with.

Heidi the vampire girl holds Simon’s mundie family hostage to mess with Simon, revealing the truth to his mom, who did not take it well and unlike Scott McCall in Teen Wolf who just gave his mom a little time to get used to it and explaining it to her, Simon immediately concludes that he needs to fake his own death, erase her memories and instead make her believe that he’s dead, literally not even giving her a day to digest that her entire world was turned upside down.

Luke is abandoned by the pack. You might have forgotten, but he became alpha, right? He kind of forgot too. All he did as the alpha was use the pack to help Clary, losing a lot of lives in the war and not really... doing much for them. They got fed up with that and kicked him out.

Magnus feels guilty about Jace, since you know he made the potion that made it possible for Jace to be fully possessed in the first place, so he decides to go to Edom (that’s hell) to make a deal with his father, who agrees to help in exchange for Magnus’ magic and immortality. Good parenting all around. /s

However, Asmodeus thus breaks the possession and Jace gains full control of his body during the final show-down. At this point, however, Lilith already managed to raise Jonathan from the dead, using Clary as a means to tie Jonathan to Earth.

It is now also revealed why the Seelie Queen put the mark of Cain on Simon, because it has the power to banish Lilith, which Simon does in this finale. (Note: Simon tracked down the real actual Cain. Turns out that making Cain a vampire who could walk the Earth at day too had been Cain’s punishment for the whole brother-murder. We do not delve deeper into that, or the implications this has on faith and more specifically Simon’s faith because he’s Jewish.)

Jonathan kidnaps Clary, but after Simon used his mark to banish Lilith, there is so much destruction, they assume that she has been killed too.

(Jonathan’s real face, because resurrected, he doesn’t use Sebastian’s borrowed one anymore.)

Some time passes, because this was the mid-season finale, and Luke and Jace go out to search everywhere for Clary, believing her to still be alive. They find her in Paris and save her, but due to the rune tying her to Jonathan, she’s kind of compromised.

For completely inexplicable reasons, the show decides to make Luke and Maryse become a couple.

Heidi took over the clan - because Raphael has been banished for the experiments he did on her. And she is trying to stir some shit between wolves and vampires, killing nearly the entire pack - and leaving Luke framed for it. Maia kills Heidi in a very badass manner by injecting herself with holy water and then making Heidi feed on her, consequently killing her.

Aline Penhallow returns to the Institute! She doesn’t do much, sadly, but I guess it was the set up meant for more in the following season.

That alcoholism of Magnus’ keeps getting worse, because now he lost his magic too and feels useless without it. He tries borrowing magic from Lorenzo, but it does not become him, making him cough up blood.

Alec thinks that with the alcoholism and the PTSD, what Magnus really needs is marriage so he gets the family ring to propose to Magnus. Look, I’m not trying to be ship-salty here, but seriously. What Magnus needed was therapy and someone to call him out on the alcoholism and helping him get help. Marriage doesn’t fix real issues - but the writers don’t know that, because they suck so badly, they live in a pink-tinted world where love fixes all problems. As can be seen by mentally ill Jace, who has his load of PTSD from the previous two seasons already and has now just killed 40 people including his own grandma, but we will never bring his mental illness up again and he is a happy camper again now because Clary is back and they are in a relationship so all of his personal problems are magically fixed too.

(Note: Holy shit the saltiness in my notes about this season make the ocean taste sweet. The writers made a lot of very subpar decisions this season.)

Moving on. Simon goes undercover and finds out that Aldertree - yeah that bitch’s still around - has been experimenting on imprisoned Downworlders, “curing” them with something called Heavenly Fire. Raphael is now human again!

Clary has been going back and forth; trying to kill Jonathan, then helping him again, imprisoning Jonathan, then breaking him out again. The bond’s making her a bit wonky. So Jace goes undercover pretending that he will join them, which was just such a brilliant plan, truly, how could anyone ever doubt this would work. Clearly, it doesn’t, but he learns that Jonathan is trying to kill the Seelie Queen.

Alec breaks up with Magnus, after he summoned Asmodeus to try and help Magnus. He makes a deal with Asmodeus to break up with Magnus in exchange for Magnus’ magic being returned. Magnus will not question how his father returned to Earth and why he would give Magnus his magic back.

Magnus finally gets his act together and banishes Asmodeus to limbo.

Maia becomes the new alpha.

Jonathan tears reality apart, breaking a rift open between hell and the Shadowhunters’ home. Seeing as Alec truly has impeccable timing, he proposes now, just before Magnus sacrifices himself going through the rift to close it from the other side.

This is where the season ends and the show got cancelled. Thankfully, we got a two hour special at least tying up the loose ends.

While Alec is busy planning the wedding, Jonathan is still out there killing people. Luke uses that stuff Aldertree made to cure himself and become human again. Simon and Isabelle are getting together - sorry, forgot to mention, after two weeks of dating, Simon and Maia broke up again, I don’t think there was a reason aside from the writers remembering that Maia isn’t Simon’s endgame.

Isabelle goes to hell, because when her and Simon were investigating Aldertree, everything exploded - including the thing Aldertree was using to make his magic removal potion. It is now embedded in Isabelle’s skin and somehow makes her immune to hell.

The others follow her, because Clary is basically god now. After creating a resurrection rune, she is now creating a rune that ties Downworlder and Shadowhunter powers together, allows them to share. These are not normal rune-powers! Her special angel blood allows her to just break all known laws of magic and create new super powerful stuff. Like a god.

The Heavenly Fire embedded in Isabelle allows her to kill Lilith and also destroy hell. Don’t question it.

Clary gets a warning from a different angel, because the angels kind of don’t like that she’s down there playing god. No more creating new runes, or she will be punished. Should, quite frankly, be easy enough to do.

She does not do as she is told. Her brother has been out there literally wiping out entire Institutes (he also had sex with the Seelie Queen and then killed her). Clary is the only one able to get close enough to by now totally overpowered Jonathan and she... hugs him to death.

That’s not even a joke. She hugs him to death. She creates a new rune that gives her angel wings. And then she hugs him and summons her wings and uses them to hug him too and for some reason - something something demon blood something something angel blood, would be my best guess - that hug kills Jonathan.

She could have just stabbed him to death. She really liked stabbing things. But the writers needed her to break that one simple to follow rule so she had to create a new rune here, you see. Plot-reasons.

Magnus and Alec immediately get married. I feel like I need to remind you that three months ago, Alec was still in the closet and Shadowhunters were still deeply homophobic, but now we are celebrating Alec’s gay wedding inside the Institute, with all Shadowhunters present too. They truly did end homophobia with their love and man as a queer person I am so salty with those writers including homophobia as a big deal just to shrug it off and pretend “but you see, those two love each other. Love is beautiful! - oooh. We, the homophobes, now see that gay love is beautiful!”... Just don’t include homophobia at all then, please.

Clary starts losing her memories during the wedding and walks out. Outside, she loses them completely. This was the great punishment from the angel. Let me remind you, she is the freaking main character of this show. But instead of giving her the spotlight and happy ending that is going on over there *motions to wedding*, they are kicking her out of magic society and ending her alone.

Worry not, there is a time-skip though and it aged me a year too.

Luke, Clary’s father figure, is now living in Brazil, happy with Maryse and working for the very Clave that had turned its back on him when he got turned into a werewolf, but hey he’s a Shadowhunter now so they take him back and hey he takes them back to and it’s so much more important to have sex at the beach than to be close to his daughter who lost her memories. Sorry. Salty again.

Alec is somehow now the Inquisitor, the highest position the Clave has to offer, after only one year time. Even if you take the whole homophobia that would have definitely kept him from gaining this much power entirely out of the equation, it is still a ridiculous timeline to consider for a guy in his early twenties. But we see him be happy and successful in Idris, logic doesn’t matter.

Bat and Maia are now together and happy and successful, having taken over a restaurant.

Simon and Jace are now friends and even after a whole year, Jace is still hung up on Clary and apparently stalks her from a distance which Simon, her best and oldest friend, thinks is unhealthy. He’s right, but it also kind of sucks that Simon and Luke have seemingly moved on from Clary.

Clary is now an artist! But she is also miserable because she is all alone and doesn’t remember her life.

In the final shot, we see Jace stalking her art gallery showing, they lock eyes... and her memories come back to her. Making everyone in the audience question why exactly the writers thought it necessary to take them in the first place, because, again, Clary is the freaking main character of this show and goodness gracious did she deserve better than that ending. But hey! She got her memories back after a year of existential angst, so yay! /s

And that’s it, that’s the whole show. The end.

#Shadowhunters #Shadowhunters Season 3 #Season 3 #Phoe's Shadowhunters Recap #Phoe's Random Show Rants

[emjenenla]

Certain Dark Things [A Mortal Instruments Fanfic]

Post-CoFA. He looked down at himself. The rune Lilith had put on his chest was still there, bright red, but he felt no panic. He was in control of his own body now. The spell was broken. Everything was okay. Or Jace and Sebastian in the aftermath of Sebastian's resurrection.

I don't own the Shadowhunter Chronicles. Title from "Sonnet XVII" by Pablo Neruda, which is also the title of part two of CoLS. Violence warning because these boys spend a not inconsiderable amount of time literally covered in Jace's blood.

I'm honestly not sure why I wrote this since CoLS is my least favorite book in the series mostly because I don't like not-Jace. I guess I'm rationalizing this story by saying that writing not-Jace will be good practice. Plus, Sebastian is a great villain. I'm not sure if I did him justice, but I tried.

For the purpose of this story, just accept that Jace has a stele through the entirety of the climax of CoFA and that Sebastian is wearing Valentine's teleporting ring. Trying to figure out how two blood-soaked teenage boys could get into the apartment and not get caught by the Clave without those two things gives me a headache.

Jace Lightwood woke up.

That was admittedly a little strange because he hadn’t been asleep, but somehow, he woke up anyway. He was kneeling in a glass box up to his waist in water that had turned red with blood. His blood. He remembered cutting open his own wrist and letting the blood run into Sebastian Morgenstern’s mouth. He remembered doing it, remembered not being in control of his own body.

He looked down at himself. The rune Lilith had put on his chest was still there, bright red, but he felt no panic. He was in control of his own body now. The spell was broken. Everything was okay.

He still felt strange, almost floaty, like the inside of his head had been rearranged and pushed around, like his thoughts weren’t quite his own. When he tried to consider the feeling more closely, a sense of peace swept over him. It was alright. Everything was alright now. It was a just a weird feeling, probably just because of all the blood he’d lost.

The surface of the water bucked, and Sebastian sat up, eyes wide, bloody water pouring off his body, sticking his colorless hair to his face and neck. Jace jerked back, more because he was startled than because he was actually afraid. Sebastian had just been dead and now he wasn’t; that was a little weird. Jace was allowed to feel startled even if Sebastian wasn’t a threat.

Sebastian gripped the sides of the box with desperate strength. At some point his missing hand had grown back, or perhaps been reattached was a better word because there was a ropey scar where Isabelle had sliced it off. Sebastian leaned forward, eyes squeezed tight closed. He coughed and retched up the combination of water and Jace’s blood that he’d been submerged in. His sides expanded and contracted in a ragged, irregular pattern, like he’d forgotten how to breathe. There was a slash on one of his palms right where Jace had cut himself mere minutes before.

Jace leaned forward, stretching out his hand carefully, not sure if Sebastian would be okay with being touched. “Are you okay?” He asked, and Sebastian motioned vaguely with one hand. The motion shouldn’t have meant anything, but Jace somehow knew Sebastian was saying he was fine.

Jace realized he was really worried about Sebastian. That was startling. Jace had been trying to keep Lilith from bringing Sebastian back, and now all he could think about was how Lilith had been planning to use Simon’s blood to finish the resurrection. What if Jace’s blood wasn’t good enough? What if there was something wrong with Sebastian as a result?

It was the same type of thought-spiral that happened every time Alec was injured. Jace was a bit confused by why he suddenly cared about Sebastian as much as he did his parabatai. Wasn’t Sebastian the enemy?

No, Sebastian wasn’t. He realized. It was all a big misunderstanding. Sebastian hadn’t meant to do those things. Max’s death had been an accident. Sebastian hadn’t meant to kill him. He was trying to do the right thing. What he wanted was right.

Jace couldn’t remember when exactly he’d learned all this information, but he knew it was true. He was more certain of it than he was of just about anything else. Sebastian was good, and Jace needed to help him.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Jace asked again. “Do you need an iratze?”

“No, I’m fine,” Sebastian said, his voice gravelly like he’d swallowed a throatful of stones. “You’re the one who needs an iratze.”

“What?” Jace blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Your arm,” Sebastian pointed with one finger, seemingly unwilling to fully let go of the box.

Jace looked down. Under Lilith’s compulsion, he’d cut into his arm very deeply. The wound was still bleeding, but not anywhere near as heavily as the severity of the wound would suggest. Perhaps that had something to do with the spell that had just been completed.

“Fix yourself up before you bleed to death or something,” Sebastian said. “Then we’ll get out of here.”

“Alright,” Normally Jace would have argued that he was fine, but strangely he had no desire to argue with Sebastian. Sebastian knew what was best.

He got to his feet and his head spun. He grabbed for the side of the box and someone grabbed his hand and held him up. When Jace’s vision cleared he found himself staring down at Sebastian. The other boy’s black eyes were not necessarily concerned, but he was still there helping to hold him up.

“Patch yourself up,” Sebastian said, letting go once he was sure Jace wasn’t going to collapse.

Jace clambered out of the box, found his stele and scrawled an iratze and a blood replacement rune onto his wrist. When he turned back, Sebastian was climbing gingerly out of the box, looking like he didn’t quite trust his legs.

“Jonathan,” Jace said, opting for that name because he wasn’t sure how the other boy would feel about being called Sebastian. “What happens now?”

Sebastian glared at him. “Don’t call me that. It’s not my name any more than its yours.”

“Then what am I supposed to call you?” Jace asked. “Sebastian?”

“That’ll do,” Sebastian said. “Give me your stele and we’ll get out of here.”

“What about Clary?” Jace asked.

“Clary,” Sebastian repeated. There was an odd expression on his face, not necessarily unfamiliar, just not the kind of expression someone normally got when thinking about their sister. Jace tried to place the expression for a minute then the curiosity floated away. It didn’t matter what Sebastian thought about Clary. He would never hurt anyone Jace cared about, not on purpose.

“Can she come with us?” Jace asked. “I want her to come with us.”

“How can you be sure we can trust her?” Sebastian raised a cynical eyebrow at Jace.

“She loves me. If I ask her to come help us, she will,” Jace wasn’t sure when his relationship with Clary had become so simple. He couldn’t remember ever being this certain about anything even remotely concerning her, but he wasn’t necessarily unset by the change. It was nice to think about Clary without drowning in a tidal wave of guilt and confusion.

“I’m glad you trust her so completely, Brother,” Sebastian said, “but we need to be careful. We will escape and heal and keep an eye on Clary. If she proves to be trustworthy we can get her then.”

“Alright,” Jace said, vaguely aware that he was agreeing too easily, but not particularly caring. He paused for a minute considering something else Sebastian had said. “Did you just call me ‘Brother?’”

“Yes,” Sebastian said. “We were both raised by Valentine Morgenstern, in a way that makes us brothers, does it not?” he paused for a moment then asked, “Does it bother you that I called you that?”

“No,” Jace said. It would have bothered him only a few minutes before, but now he was deeply thankful for Sebastian’s implicit trust and intimacy. He’d literally killed this boy and tried to keep Lilith from giving him another chance at life, he couldn’t believe Sebastian had forgiven him. “You can call me that if you want, I would be honored.”

Sebastian looked thoughtfully at him for a minute. He looked mildly confused, just as Jace felt, but after a moment the expression was gone. “Give me your stele,” he said. “The Clave is downstairs, and it will only be a few minutes before they make their way up here. We don’t want to be here when that happens.”

Jace handed over the stele. He was curious about how Sebastian planned to get away without running into the Clave, but he didn’t question him. He knew Sebastian would take care of it, Jace just needed to trust him.

Sebastian strode across the garden motioning for Jace to follow. Sebastian walked with purpose, but he was obviously unsteady. Jace ran a couple sets to catch up and gripped the other boy’s arm to give him some support. Sebastian gave him a look that was part confusion, part threat then relaxed. “Sorry,” he said. “This is… strange.”

Jace nodded in agreement. He knew that what was happening right now was right, but he still wasn’t sure how it he had reached this point, and that was odd and a little unsettling. “You said we needed to go,” he said quietly.

Sebastian nodded curtly and continued on. Jace stayed with him until they reached a wall. Then Sebastian moved suddenly using his arm to pin Jace’s hand against his side. Years of training made Jace stiffen, but he wasn’t really alarmed. “Sebastian?” he asked.

Sebastian didn’t respond, he reached to touch a ring on one of his fingers. There was a flash of silver light and Jace felt like he was being pulled after Sebastian into something, condensed down into nothing and shot through the air. A split second later Jace’s vision cleared and he and Sebastian were standing a horribly familiar cave system. It was near instantaneous travel, but it was nothing like portaling.

“Sebastian,” Jace asked again. “Where are we?”

Sebastian grinned, but the expression was a tried one, like it took energy to perform it. “I think you already know that.”

Jace knew. This was the cave he had followed Sebastian to several weeks before, the one where Valentine had released the demons from. “Why are we here?” he asked.

“Because this is where the door is,” Sebastian said cryptically, then he lifted Jace’s stele and drew a rune on the cave wall. After a second he pulled Jace forward and stepped into the wall. Jace stumbled after and found himself in an ultramodern apartment. He had no idea where they were, but somehow, he knew it was nowhere near the rooftop they had just been on.

“What?” Jace looked around, taking in the sleek black and white decor. There were no windows. “Where are we now?”

“This was our father’s safehouse,” Sebastian let go of Jace and pressed the stele back into his slack hand. “This is where we lived for years after he sent you to live with the Lightwoods.” There was no jealousy or gloating in his voice when he talked about the differences in the way Valentine had treated them. Jace didn’t think that was odd. He and Sebastian hadn’t understood each other before, they did now there was no need for jealousy now.

“Will they find us here?” Jace asked.

“Technically there’s no ‘here’ for them to find,” Sebastian crossing the room to lean heavily on the huge glass table. “This is an interdimensional pocket; the only way out is that stretch of wall behind you. They can’t track us, and they definitely can’t find the entrance let alone figure out how to open it. There is no safer place to be.”

Vaguely, Jace was aware that he probably should have been nervous since he was basically trapped in a place that wasn’t even part of his world, but he wasn’t. He trusted Sebastian. Everything would be okay.

“We should rest,” Sebastian ran a hand down his face, smearing Jace’s half-dried blood down his face in even more ghastly patterns. “We’re both exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” Jace said, automatically.

Sebastian gave him a look. It wasn’t like Alec’s exasperated but concerned expressions, it was the look of someone who knew he was being lied to and didn’t like it. There wasn’t any overt concern, but Jace still found it comforting. “You look terrible,” Sebastian said, matter of fact. “You look like you haven’t slept in the entire time I’ve been dead. My sister must be a fool if she didn’t notice.”

“She had other things on her mind,” Jace said. Things like worrying I was going to break up with her. Strangely, the thought wasn’t as painful as it would have been just hours before. Clary knew he loved her, she couldn’t really have worried all that seriously about him leaving her.

“Regardless,” Sebastian said. “You’ll be a lot more useful if you don’t look like you’re about to collapse. There’s a spare bedroom upstairs you can use. I’ve never been able to figure out if our father intended it for you or Clary, but I’m sure he’s in a place where it doesn’t matter either way.”

Jace eyed the stairs heading upwards. “Are you sure you can make it up those stairs?”

Sebastian frowned then straightened up and let go of the table. He swayed visibly but didn’t fall. “I’ll make it,” he said and headed for the stairs.

He did make it though Jace followed a step below just in case. At the top of the stairs, Sebastian gestured tiredly to one of the closed doors. “There’s the room. There’s an attached bathroom. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Wait,” Jace said as the other boy started to walk away.

“What?” Sebastian sounded tired and Jace felt bad for having to bother him.

“Do you have some clothes for me to borrow?” Jace gestured at his blood-soaked clothes. “These are ruined.”

Sebastian stared blankly at him, then blinked as if he’d just realized what Jace was asking. “Oh, sure,” he said and headed for another door, which presumably lead to his room.

The room was catastrophically messy. The clutter put Jace’s teeth on edge, but the feeling was tinged with fondness like he felt when looking at Izzy’s disaster zone of room.

Sebastian crossed the room and stumbled, catching himself on the dresser. He waved Jace away and pulled open one of the drawers. After a moment he yanked out ball of black clothes and tossed them at Jace. “There you go.”

Jace caught the clothes and studied the other boy. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m fine!” Sebastian snapped. “I just came back to life I think I’m considerably better off than I was two hours ago. Go shower or something!”

Jace wanted to stay and make sure Sebastian didn’t slip in the bathroom and crack his head open, but it was pretty obvious Sebastian wanted to be left alone to lick his wounds. Jace understood the feeling so he back out of the room and closed the door quietly behind him.

The room Sebastian had pointed out was simply furnished in comparison to the rest of the apartment with white painted walls and white sheets and blankets on the bed. It was calming after the messiness of Sebastian’s room. Jace crossed to the attached bathroom and poked around in the drawers. The room seemed to have been prepared for someone to live there--Clary maybe? --because there was a toothbrush, toothpaste and a hairbrush in one of the drawers. There was also deodorant which was a relief. Using Sebastian’s deodorant would have been far from the grossest thing Jace had ever done, but he was still glad not to actually have to do it.

There were a couple fluffy white towels hanging next to the shower and some shampoo and bodywash. Jace stripped out of his ruined clothes and stepped into the shower letting the hot water pound down onto his body.

After a lifetime of being a Shadowhunter Jace was used to washing blood, ichor and other disgusting things off himself. Like he always did, he gave himself a minute to soak, watching his own blood turn the water red. Once the minute was passed he lathered shampoo into his hair and began to scrub himself clean.

The shower water was warm and relaxing. Jace tried to wash himself as quickly and efficiently as possible but he was hit by the adrenaline crash before he finished. He leaned against the shower wall as the headache he’d been nursing for weeks slammed back into him. He ached, his stomach was vaguely upset, and he just felt nasty. The sad thing was that aside from some aches and pains he didn’t feel that much worse than he had for the last few weeks. He was just so tired.

He finished showering with clumsy fingers and stumbled out of the shower. He dried off and reached for the clothes Sebastian had given him. There was a silky black pair of pajama pants and a black tee-shirt. The fact that they were twisted together did not bode well for their cleanliness, but Jace was too tired to care. The clothes didn’t really fit, but thankfully Sebastian was both taller and broader across the shoulders than Jace was, so the clothes were too big not too small. Jace tied the drawstring of the pants tightly to keep them up and tried not to wonder how much weight he’d lost in recent weeks.

He knew that he should brush his teeth and hair, but he was too exhausted for that. He stumbled out of the bathroom and collapsed face down onto the bed. He lay there for a few minutes before he finally worked his way under the blankets. The bed was very soft and Jace was very tired; he was asleep before he even realized it was happening.

For the first time in weeks, he did not dream.

~~~~

A hand poked Jace in the side, dragging him towards the surface of a deep ocean of sleep.

“Are you alive?” a voice asked.

Jace groaned and batted at the hand, not completely awake. “Go away,” he grunted. He did not want to wake up. He hadn’t slept well in weeks and he was so tired.

“Alright, fine,” the person who was bothering him said. “You can just keep lying there comatose if that’s what you want.”

That was what Jace wanted. As soon as the annoyance was gone he sunk back into the ocean.

~~~~

Eventually, Jace resurfaced in the waking world. Since the bedroom had no windows it was dark and there was no way to tell what time it was. After a moment, Jace reached out, turned the bedside lamp on and squinted at the clock sitting next to it. It was late morning, almost late enough to be considered lunchtime. He sunk back onto the pillows and stared up at the ceiling trying to gather himself. He hadn’t slept that well in too long.

It took him almost twenty minutes to finally feel awake enough to get up. He felt groggy and heavy like his body had forgotten how to deal with actually getting restful sleep. He sat up very, very slowly and ran a tired hand down his face feeling stubble rasping against his palm. He hoped Sebastian had a razor he could borrow.

Eventually he pushed aside the blankets and stood. He padded out of the bedroom on tired feet. He felt a little hungover which was weird, but he was so thankful to have actually been able to sleep that he didn’t care.

When he opened the bedroom door he heard all kinds of loud noises and music coming from the TV downstairs. Jace headed down the steps to see that Sebastian was sprawled on the couch watching what Jace thought was supposed to be an extremely violent movie.

“You know that’s not what actually happens if you stab someone there,” Jace said.

Sebastian craned his neck to look at Jace. “Oh, look he lives. Did you get enough sleep, Brother?” He voice was a little teasing, but in a familial way. “You’ve been dead to the world for over twenty-four hours.”

For the first time Jace realized it was a new day. He blinked. “Oh…” he said. “I didn’t realize…”

“Yes,” Sebastian said, still with a friendly air of teasing. “That’s obvious.”

Jace rounded the coach, sat down and curled up against the arm of the couch. Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him, but Jace was the one who spoke first, “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve always been fine,” Sebastian said rolling his eyes. “You’re the one who’s sporting the most obvious sleep hangover I’ve ever seen.”

“Is that a real thing?” Jace asked.

“Google it,” Sebastian said with a shrug then he got up. He was perfectly steady on his feet which made Jace a lot less worried about him. “The majority of the food in this place went bad while both Father and I were busy being dead, so now that you’re awake I’m going to go out and get us some lunch.”

“I can go with you,” Jace said trying to straighten up.

“You’re only nominally awake,” Sebastian said. “And only the clothes you have are my pajamas, which do not fit you in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Believe me, I’ve noticed,” Jace said.

“Just stay here,” Sebastian said. “I’ll be back.”

After he left, Jace lay on the couch and vacantly watched Sebastian’s movie. It really wasn’t the kind of thing he would have chosen to watch on his own, but it was what Sebastian had chosen and Jace wanted to get to know the other boy a little better. The confusion he’d felt the night before was gone and he was completely comfortable with his alliance with Sebastian. Everything was okay, this was right.

Twenty minutes later Sebastian came back with a plastic bag of paper-wrapped packages. “Roman pizza,” he said grandly dropping the bag onto the coffee table in front of Jace. “Fresh from the source.”

“Rome?” Jace said. “But this apartment is in Idris.”

“You obviously haven’t been paying attention,” Sebastian threw himself back onto the couch. “This apartment was never in Idris, just the door was. I’ve since moved the entrance to Rome, Italy. Have you ever been there?”

“No,” Jace admitted. Some Shadowhunters traveled extensively, helping out wherever they went, but Jace had never had that opportunity. As a child he and Valentine had never left the Wayland Manor, something that made perfect sense now that he realized Valentine wasn’t actually Michael Wayland. The Lightwoods had the Institute to contend with and didn’t travel either. Jace had always secretly hoped that he, Alec and Izzy would be able to leave New York and see the world once they came of age, though it was seeming more and more like that would never happen. He’d been trying not to be disappointed, and now that he found he actually wasn’t. It would be good to see the world with Sebastian, just like it would be good to see the world with Alec and Izzy.

“Here,” Sebastian rummaged through the bag and tossed one paper wrapped package to Jace. Jace unwrapped it to reveal the type of Roman pizza which was baked in long strips and then cut and folded in half when the customer bought it. His stomach growled and he nearly sobbed in relief. The combination of stress, exhaustion and terror he’d been living with recently always stole his appetite, it had been awhile since he’d been hungry.

When he looked up Sebastian was watching at him with a raised eyebrow. “What?” Jace asked.

“You look like you’re going to cry,” Sebastian said, mostly teasing but also almost mocking.

“I’m fine,” Jace said and stuffed a bite of pizza into his mouth before he did anything else embarrassing.

Jace inhaled several packages of pizza with barely a thought. When he finally tuned back into reality Sebastian was eating absently, his attention mostly focused on the movie. He glanced at Jace and his lips twisted into a smile. “Had enough to eat?”

Jace felt himself turn red. He normally didn’t get embarrassed about eating, but he was well aware that he’d probably looked like he was eating for the first time in too long. Valentine had always been finicky about table manners, he had no way of knowing if Sebastian was too. “Yes,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”

Sebastian’s smile was a little like the kind people gave to a puppy who had just done something cute and endearing. “Well, if my dear sister isn’t going to take care of you properly, then I guess the job falls to me.”

Jace found himself nodding along. On some level, he knew that there was something wrong with his unthinking agreement with Sebastian’s casual belittling of Clary, but he didn’t really think about it. It was really frustrating that Clary could spend so much time angsting about whether or not Jace still loved her but that Simon who didn’t even like Jace had been the one to realize something was wrong and try to help. He hadn’t thought about it at the time, but it was really annoying now that he wasn’t panicking about what he might do if he spent too much time around her.

“I’m really thankful for all of this,” Jace said feeling like the words needed to be spoken. “You have no reason to forgive me for everything I did to you while our father was still alive, but you did, and I’m can’t express how thankful I am for that.”

A confused expression crossed Sebastian’s face, like he was thinking something he knew didn’t make sense and couldn’t figure out why he was thinking it, then his expression cleared. “You can thank me by helping me.”

“What do you need help with?” Jace asked. He felt a little like he already knew, but he wanted to hear Sebastian say it, rather than make assumptions of his own.

Sebastian leaned back and stared at the television. He was debating how best to explain his goals, Jace somehow understood this almost instinctively.

“Tell me,” Sebastian said after a while. “Have you ever heard the quote ‘Flectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo?’”

“Virgil,” Jace said. “‘If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell.’”

Sebastian grinned, it was a sharp, wicked thing. “That, Brother, is exactly what we’re going to do.”

For some reason I love the "If I cannot move Heaven, I will raise Hell" quote so you know I had to get it in here.

You know it occurs to me that this is the first Jace story I've ever written that isn't angst...

#shadowhunters #the mortal instruments #post-city of fallen angels #pre-city of lost souls #Bookverse #jace wayland #jace lightwood #jace herondale #sebastian morgenstern #jonathan morgenstern #sebastian verlac #not-jace #magical stockholm syndrome #sleep deprevation #consequences of bringing someone back to life #jace whump #sebastian whump #I'm not quite sure how that happened but I decided to just go with it #disturbingly CoLS is the most mentally healthy Jace is in this entire series #Why did I write this? #fanfiction #fanfic #emjenenla #Emjen writes #tw: blood