Chasing Death (TMI FanFiction) // UNEDITED

Part 2 - Chapter Twenty-One

"You can't be serious!" Charlie said, breaking the silence that seemed to echo through the room several times over. Jonathan had just finished explaining the plan to everyone when the room fell silent and no one felt safe enough to speak, well, until Charlie did.

"Charlie, come on! It's not like we have any other choice!" Beth said, throwing her hands down onto the bed sheet and glancing up at him. After waking up, she had demanded Jonathan tell them the plan in order for them to put it into motion almost immediately.  It's safe to say that they didn't take it very well, who would? The point being that they needed the others to understand what was going to happen and when, even if it took all day to convince them it was the right thing to do. 

"I'm not going to let you summon a Greater Demon at the expense of your own life! You said yourself that this could go one of two ways and I'd rather keep you alive." Beth sighed and rolled her eyes. Despite him having a very good point, Beth didn't see it that way. The only thing she saw was a chance to stop the Rogue attacks and bring down Lilith for good. In order for the plan to work, Beth had to convince the others to work with her or it could all come crashing down around her, but that was easier said than done.

"You don't understand, Charlie! We're trying to stop the rogue attacks for good. If we don't do this then more innocent Shadowhunters and Downworlders are going to die and we could have done something to stop it. You know they're not going to stop, right? They're going to keep coming. They're going to come after me until they get what they want and before we know it, I could be the one trying to raise hell and take down the Clave. You remember how they used Jonathan for their bidding, I'll be next and once they've gained control of my mind, it'll be up to you to kill me, just like Clary did to Jonathan, would you be able to do that?"

"That's beside the point! You're asking me to allow you to walk into a situation where you're more or less asking to get killed! I'm not going to let you do this." Beth sighed in frustration. She knew convincing him was going to be anything but easy, but she never thought it would be like this. He had never been this stubborn before so it was almost impossible for Beth to know what to say next. Luckily, she didn't have to say anything.

"Look, Charlie, we're not saying that we're going to do this on our own. The only reason we told you instead of marching off and doing it ourselves is because we need your help. We know that there is no way we can do this by ourselves so, believe it or not, we're asking for your help. If we can make this Rune work, then we won't have to worry about Rogues or the possibility of Beth turning evil and trying to the exact same thing I almost did all those years ago. This is a chance to start all over again and, after the amount of deaths that have occurred, it can't hurt to at least try," Jonathan said. It was the first time he had spoken up since explaining the plan to Charlie and the others.

Once again, the room fell silent. Beth was certain that if you listened closely enough you could hear the slow ticking of everyone's brains trying to process what had just been said to them. It wasn't as if it was the hardest thing to process either, Jonathan hadn't over complicated anything, it was just straight to the point. They both knew that defeating Lilith alone was almost an impossible task, even with the help of the Rune. Both had hoped that convincing the others to join in with them wouldn't take that long, but by the looks of it, it was going to take longer than expected.

After a few silent minutes, Jonathan glanced over at Beth who simply shrugged and went back to playing with the frayed edge of her duvet cover. Neither of them wanted to say anything in case it stirred something up, but they both wanted to get this thing over and done with so they could start planning. It was okay to read what to do in a book, but they needed to plan it out in order to know whether or not it would work. Also, they needed to find a way to get the same end result without the help of the others because regardless on whether they agreed, they were doing it anyway.