Trapped in History

17

Jace nervously stood outside of Magnus' door. Alec was to his right, Will and Gabriel were both behind him. The two had insisted, and Jace had not wanted to argue too much leaving it up to Magnus as to whether or not he wanted to deal with the extra company. He was not one to argue and it was Magnus' choice anyways considering it was his house and his part and everything. If Magnus had no issue with them being there, he had no issue. He did not care too much, just hoped that they would keep to themselves, as he fully intended to do on his part. Well, as best as he could at the very least. 

Magnus' parties were a safe haven for downworlders, one of the reasons why he was so horribly anxious about coming to them every time. He was a Nephilim, he was not entirely sure that his presence was overly welcome, but Magnus had insisted each time and he had gone out of respect for him and Alec, and now he was stuck here in a different time line doing the same exact thing and he really wondered if even in the past or different universes things repeated themselves so perfectly. 

It would seem that some things were forever destined to repeat themselves constantly, no matter what differences may begin. He did not know if that was comforting, in this time where he had no idea where they were, or what he was going to do, but he supposed that there was some comfort to be had that at least they had some similarities. It was also frightening to think about, such as...how many similarities existed between worlds? He did not want to know. 

Magnus opened his door, a bright smile on his face. He leaned himself on the side of the doorway, staring at the gathering of Shadowhunters on his doorstep. He gave a curious eye to Gabriel and Will. Jace felt the tale-tell shiver down his spine at that. 

"I did not expect more baby Hunters." Magnus said his teeth slightly bared. Will glanced towards Gabriel, both of them sporting similar worried expressions. They had not thought about what could happen if they were turned away at the door. They knew that Jace and Alec would just waltz straight in nonetheless, but that would sort of defeat the main reason why they had come there in the first place. 

"Neither did we." Alec said a growl to his voice and a roll of his eyes. Neither Alec nor Jace were overly welcoming to Will or Gabriel being there to 'supervise' them. It was rather insulting, if nothing more, and while they knew that the others were wary about them, it was annoying to have it bleed through everything. They were not children. Well, okay they were but they were not needing to be supervised at every turn. 

"Apparently they think we need to be...supervised, to keep us, of all people would you think, from doing something disastrous." Magnus glanced back at the older two Shadowhunters at the younger's words, and they gave a small nod, Magnus giving an almost amused lilt to his lips at that. He had told them to keep an eye on the boys, so he supposed this was slightly his fault in the making. He shook his head, pulling the door open wider, and moving his body to the side to allow them through to the rest of the house. 

"Well, welcome, just be sure to keep your comments in check, okay?" Magnus said, extending one sharply pointed nail towards the Shadowhunter group, a smile playing at his lips. Alec bit his lower lip, it would seem that the derogatory comments towards downworlders were still quite prevalent then. For some reason, despite the fact that he had known it was likely the case, it pained him. He should have prepared himself more for this news. All of the steps that he had worked towards in their timeline did not move with him. 

It was to be expected, and yet a part of him felt horribly sad about it. This hatred that many shadowhunters had for the downworlders, it was beyond many things that any could possibly think, and yet he had hoped that perhaps they had landed on a...on a plane where it was not so active. He shook his head, grabbing Jace by the wrist and pulling him into the house with him. There was time to think about those things later, for now they were lucky. 

Will and Gabriel moved forwards with Jace and Alec, but the former two quickly lost track and sight of the latter. The place was filled to the brim, and there was music and all sorts of table set with food from various types to cater to tons of different creatures. The just stood, shellshocked, and unable to really comprehend the sight that they were seeing. 

Alec and Jace were a little more used to this sort of scene, and as such it was not as shocking for them to see. They maneuvered themselves quite easily through the throng of downworlders making their way towards the back of the house. Alec deposited Jace there, looking him over. 

"Are you okay?" Jace rolled his eyes and nodded. 

"You may want to go snatch the other two though, I think we sort of...lost them?" Alec glanced around at Jace's words and cursed under his breath. 

"By the angel, why did they not just follow us?" Alec muttered. Jace shrugged an amused smile on his face. 

"They probably were not prepared," Jace said, almost laughing. 

"They were the ones who decided to follow us," Alec groused, and Jace knew that he had a point, it was still funny in his opinion though. 

"Well, go and get them before they do something stupid. We don't want a complicated incident, especially considering the clear tensions between the downworlders and nephilim. So go." Jace shooed Alec off to go and find the other two shadowhunters. He was somewhat enjoying himself for the first time in a while, and Alec could not bear to ignore that, deciding to do what he had said and rolling his eyes, and shaking his head, he moved to go find the other two shadowhunters. 

Jace was right after all. There were tensions between the shadowhunters and the downworlders. There had always been. Even when he had begun to lessen those tensions they were still quite prevalent despite his best efforts. Now, they were still quite strong. He did not want the shadowhunters accidently doing or saying something and setting off a war or something. 

Jace, stayed where he had been placed. He did not want to loose Alec when the other came back dragging Will and Gabriel.  He glanced at the table of drinks. He knew that it was a bad idea to trust any sort of food or drink offered at a Downworlder party, but a part of him wondered if it truly mattered. 

After all, they were in a different world, he had dragged them there, and nobody could figure that out, not to mention he was still confused as to how they got there, and he had no idea how he was supposed to get them back. Or if he even wanted to. Surely the threat of being enslaved by drinking some punch was minimal in that regard?