Mortal Instruments: One-Shots and Shorts

My Responsibility

Just a little angst to start us off- Unedited, this one was based on the TV show and is more on the parabati bond than Malec but hey-

~

The demons were all but defeated, scrambling in retreat from the 4 Shadowhunters. Jace watched them haphazardly fleeing, ignoring the pain of his bleeding leg as it stained his dark pants.

Something was off, he thought. He squinted, scrutinizing the mass of unorganized chaos. The demons panicked gazes were above his head. They weren't looking at the Shadowhunters in fear but rather something else.

The realization hit him the exact moment it must have hit his siblings, because in his peripheral vision he saw Alec pivot to face behind him at the same time as Izzy. But there was one who was blissfully unaware- Clary.

As he turned to catch her triumphant gaze, thinking they had beat the demons, he saw something rise up in the shadow cast behind her. He shouted in warning, lunging in her direction but he knew in his heart he would never be able to reach her in time.

A dark Shadowhunter, a man bearing Valentine's mark, launched himself toward Clary, prepared to finish the job that the demons had failed to complete.

His double edged blade hit home, driving through skin, tissue, and muscle to cleanly impale through the chest. Izzy screamed, throwing a dagger through the air to land in the dark man's neck. He staggered back and fell to the ground, clutching at his neck as he bled out.

But Jace didn't understand; he was looking at Clary and she was still looking at him. There was no blood, no scream of agony.

For when he looked past her, he saw a familiar face looking at him.  Alec held Jace's gaze but his eyes soon wandered down to his chest, where a blade was lodged in his ribs. Blood was beginning to flow, staining his shirt and dripping to the ground. He looked up in wonder again and simply reminded Jace, "You said she was my responsibility."

Before his eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

"No!" Jace screamed, lunging past Clary to his brother.

He threw himself to the ground next to his parabati, pulling him into his arms. Alec's eyes were unfocused, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. His breaths were gurgles, as he choked on his own blood filling his lungs.

"Izzy, Izzy call Magnus!" Jace could hear Clary say, but she sounded far away. He distantly felt Izzy drawing a healing rune on Alec's chest but he knew that it wouldn't buy him much time with a wound like this.

Jace put his hands on either side of Alec's head, tipping his own forward to touch foreheads with his fallen parabati.

"Don't you dare try to die on me Alec. Don't even thing about it." Jace ordered, his voice breaking. "When I said to look after her, I didn't mean take a blade to the heart." But Jace knew Alec, he knew that since he had asked this of his parabati that Alec would have remained loyal to his dying breath.

And with a last burst of effort, Alec thrust his hand up to clutch Jace's collarbone where his parabati rune was drawn. Jace immediately did the same, gripping Alec's rune with bruising pressure, like a drowning man clinging to a raft.

"Just hold on, Magnus is on his way, just hold on." Izzy repeated over and over as she paced next her brothers.

But Jace could feel Alec's hand loosening, his grip slackening. He could see the eyes fluttering close. He could feel the wheezing breaths start to stop. He could feel the jagged, desperate heart beats slowing down.

"No, no, no, no, no." Jace pleaded, "Just a little longer Alec, please, stay with me."

And by the time Magnus had arrived, Jace feared that the coldness of his parabati rune wasn't from the cold night air.

~

Short I know, but this was just what my brain spit out.

Who wants the next update to be Alec and Magnus continued from this?