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“Jace? Izzy?” Alec called once in the Ops center.
He had been on his way back to see Magnus after talking to Lorenzo when Izzy called him about what happened to Jace and Clary. He immediately texted Magnus and headed straight for the Institute. In hindsight, he should have known something was up. He had been picking up a weird feeling from Jace through their rune all day. But with everything going on with Magnus and his search for the Morning Star sword, it had slipped his mind.
“In the medical wing,” Underhill said.
Alec flashed him a grateful smile before rounding the corner. He let out a breath when he found his siblings in the medical examiner’s room instead of the infirmary.
“Jace,” Alec said once he was in the room. He threw his arms around Jace’s shoulders and let out a shaky sigh.
“I’m okay, Alec. I’m okay,” Jace said, hugging back.
“What happened?” Alec asked as he let go.
“You know how I told you I wanted to do something special for Clary to celebrate her homecoming?” Alec nodded. “Well, there’s this photo of her and her mom ice skating at the Rockefeller Center. So, I took her ice skating. I left for three minutes to get a new pair of skates, and Jonathan ambushed me.”
That would explain the quick flash of pain Alec had gotten from their rune earlier.
“You said something happened to Clary as well. Did Jonathan hurt her?” Alec asked, a spike of anger flooding his senses for a moment.
“It’s worse,” Izzy added. She practically looked green in the face. Alec put his arm around her shoulders gently.
“He glamoured himself to look like me. Paraded her all around New York for hours until she realized and called Izzy,” Jace said, face scrunching up in anger.
“What?" Alec said, his tone full of heat.
“He deceived her. Made her think he was Jace, so he could get close to her. It makes me sick just thinking about it,” Izzy said, shuddering under Alec’s hold.
The whole thing made Alec’s blood boil, but he wasn’t sure if that was his own anger or Jace’s.
“What happened after she called you, Iz?”
“I went to the rink to find Jace and we tracked them down. Clary was supposed to subdue him with a somnus rune so we could arrest him, but she froze and he got away,” Izzy responded.
“She froze? What do you mean?”
“We don’t really know. She had him one minute and the next, he was gone. We think it might be an effect of the rune,” Jace said.
That damned twinning rune.
Dropping his hand from Izzy, Alec ran it over his face. He wasn’t mad at Clary for letting him go, more so just at the situation itself.
“How is she?” Alec asked.
“Holding up, I guess. She’s in her room,” Jace said, anger and anguish clear on his face.
“Alone?”
“She hasn’t been able to look me in the eye since we got back, Alec. I don’t think she wants to see me right now,” Jace said, defeatedly.
Alec could tell how much this was killing Jace. He wanted more than anything to be with Clary right now, but was trying to be respectful of what she had just gone through.
“We think you should talk to her, Alec,” Izzy said.
Alec paled. “Me?”
He would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about Clary and angry for her over what Jonathan did, but their relationship had only recently started to improve. They weren’t so distant anymore, but they certainly weren’t close enough for Alec to be the one to comfort her after something like this. This was a conversation best left for Izzy.
“I already tried that,” Izzy said, clearly interpreting Alec’s thoughts from his expression. “She wouldn’t let me in. She wouldn’t tell me what happened. That is really unlike her. She has always been able to talk to me. It scares me, Alec.”
This softened Alec’s heart a little.
“If not for her, then for me. Please,” Jace added.
This softened Alec’s heart the rest of the way.
The decision was made. Alec stepped toward him to wrap his brother in another hug, cradling the back of his head.
“You never need to ask, Parabatai. I’ll talk to her,” Alec said.
Jace didn’t respond, but that was okay; Alec never needed one.
Alec shook his hands out as he stood in front of Clary’s door. It wasn't regret that was causing him to stall, but more the anxiety over the whole prospect. He had never been very good with words. He found it easier to express himself since meeting Magnus, but still struggled to put his thoughts into words..
As he raised his hand to knock, Alec heard faint sniffling on the other side of the door. His heart suddenly swelled the way it had all those times he stood outside Izzy’s door when they were kids after their mother threw one too many harsh words her way. Alec took a deep breath as he knocked.
“Come in,” Clary said, voice hoarse.
Alec saw her wipe at her cheeks a few times with the back of her hand once he walked in.
“Clary—”
“Alec, I am so sorry,” she said before Alec could get anything else out.
A feeling of guilt washed over Alec. Clary thought he was here to scold her for allowing Jonathan to get away. He knew their relationship wasn’t easy, but until now he hadn’t realized that Clary had come to expect reprimand over comfort when Alec was around. That cut him deeper than he thought it would.
A few months ago, that would have been true. A few months ago, he saw Clary as nothing more than another young, naïve shadowhunter under his care. Someone who didn’t know what they were doing. But that was then. Now, he realized he saw Izzy when he looked at Clary. He saw a little sister. Someone tasked with the weight of the world too soon and too young.
(Not that Alec was much older than either Clary or Isabelle, but he certainly felt like he was)
He didn’t know when it had happened, or what event caused the change specifically, but there was no sense in denying it. Family was the most important thing in the world to Alec, and that included Clary. Somehow, Clary Fray had snuck into his heart right under his nose.
“Don’t apologize, Clary. I’m not here because of that. I’m here for you,” Alec said, much more confident now. He sat down on the bed beside her.
Clary furrowed her eyebrows. “Me? What about me?”
“Jace and Izzy told me what happened. Are you okay?”
“I told them I’m fine. They shouldn’t have sent you to talk to me. I know you have a lot going on with Magnus and everything. I’m sorry. You can go if you need to,” Clary said. Alec could tell she was trying to sound angry, but there was no intention behind it.
“They know as well as I do that you aren’t fine,” he said, gently nudging her shoulder with his own to get her to look at him. “And it’s fine. Nothing is more important to me than you right now. Will you talk to me, please?”
It was tearing at Alec’s insides to see Clary struggling, but gripping so tightly to the wall she was putting up. He hated seeing the people he loved in pain.
“And say, what, exactly? That my brother glamoured himself to look like my boyfriend so he could kidnap me? So he could—” She choked on her next word.
Alec remembered something Izzy had told him about Jonathan’s behavior when Clary was with him in Paris. Clary had called him ‘creepy’. The true reality of what Jonathan’s intentions must have been by disguising himself as Jace hit Alec and he felt his blood reach boiling point.
“Did he…” Alec chewed on his next words carefully. “Did he do anything to you?”
Clary shifted uncomfortably. “He kissed me. That was all, but if I hadn’t realized it was him… I feel so violated, Alec. I should have known. I sh—” She couldn’t finish.
When Izzy was around 15, she had told Alec about this boy in her Judo class that looked at her in a way that made her uncomfortable. Alec, about 17 then, knew what that look meant. He cornered the boy and broke his nose the next day, telling him in no uncertain terms to stay away from his sister.
He felt like doing a lot worse to Jonathan now. Alec didn’t care what the reason was for Jonathan’s despicable, immoral behavior, because he could refute all of them. The love of his life had demon blood, and Magnus was nothing like Jonathan. Valentine was Clary’s father and raised Jace, and neither of them were anything like Jonathan. None of it mattered. Jonathan was a monster and always would be.
He let the anger dissipate after a few moments. As much as he still felt it, he knew it wasn’t what Clary needed. She needed a brother right now, a real one.
“It wasn’t your responsibility to know. It was his responsibility to not do it at all,” Alec said after he felt calm enough to speak. He couldn’t stand listening to Clary blame herself.
“But he’s my brother, Alec. Shouldn’t I have felt that? Shouldn’t I have known that somewhere in the back of my mind?” Clary asked, eyes exhausted as she finally turned to look at him.
“He took advantage of you while your guard was down. That is not your responsibility.”
Clary opened her mouth a few times before she just gave up and shook her head. Tears welled in her eyes as Alec shifted closer to wrap an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. He stayed, unmoving, for several minutes as she cried into his sweater.
“I can’t believe I let him go,” she said once the tears had stopped.
Alec let her readjust until her head rested on his shoulder but kept his arm in place. “Try not to beat yourself up. Jace couldn’t kill Valentine, remember?”
“That’s different. Valentine raised him. I didn’t even have to kill him. I just… had to draw a stupid rune and… I couldn’t.”
Her defeated, resigned tone made Alec’s heart ache. “He’s your family, Clary. I get why you couldn’t. After everything you’ve been through, you deserve a brother who truly cares for you. But that’s just not who Jonathan is.”
“When I looked at him today, I saw a version of him that could be that. It made me hesitate. Maybe it’s the rune, maybe I’m just weak. I don’t know,” Clary said, sighing shakily.
Alec stiffened. Clary was a lot of things, most of which Alec had grown to sincerely appreciate. But what Clary was not was weak. He couldn’t stand that Jonathan, even miles away from the Institute, was making Clary feel like this.
Alec brought his other hand up so he could grasp both of her shoulders, dipping his head down to better meet her eyes square on. “You are one of the strongest Shadowhunters I know. What you’ve endured in the months since you’ve been in this world would make lesser Nephilim put down their stele. You are anything but weak, little sister.”
“Sister?” Clary whispered, eyes full of surprise and disbelief.
Alec smiled, dropping one of his hands to push some red strands behind her ear. “I didn’t realize it until I came in here but, yes. I think I have seen you the same way I do Izzy for a while now. So, if you’ll have me, I’d like to be the big brother you deserve.”
Clary’s eyes filled with tears again as she crashed into Alec’s chest, arms wrapped tightly around his middle. Alec chuckled softly, hugging back and resting his chin on her head. This felt natural to Alec. Like Clary was always supposed to be a part of the Lightwoods, was always supposed to be his sister, but just arrived a little late. That was fine; he would just make up for their lost time.
She wiped at her nose with her sleeve for a moment before returning her arm to its original position. “Of course I’ll have you, Alec. I could use a brother right now.” Alec felt her tense up a little. “And thanks. For saying all that. I’m not sure if I agree, but it helped.”
Alec kissed the top of her head gently. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to be around to remind you then.”
Clary squeezed him tighter. “I’d like that.”
They stayed like that for a while, perfectly comfortable with the silence. It was only when Clary let go that Alec finally spoke again.
“We’re going to fix this. Me, Izzy, Jace, Magnus, even Simon and Luke. We’re not giving up on you.”
Clary smiled up at him. “Have you always been this warm and fuzzy?”
“Only for my family,” Alec said sincerely, wrapping his little sister in another tight hug.
“I love you, Alec Lightwood.”
“I love you, Clary Fray.”