❝ This above a l l:
to t h i n e own
s e l f be t r u e. ❞
─ 𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐥𝐞𝐭; 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐞
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𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐜 𝐋𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐱 𝐌!𝐎𝐂
𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧�...
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❨ 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐲𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 ❩
❈ ──────────── ❈
𝐈𝐓 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐔𝐏 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄, 𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆. Like clockwork, no matter what, he was ready to start the day by seven o'clock each and every morning. Whether he was up most of the night with his head buried into textbooks he'd read a hundred times or spending extra time in the attic to train, Leon never deviated from that schedule.
After his morning routine — shower, get dressed, brush teeth, eat breakfast — Leon made his way through the maze-like hallways of the London Institute.
And, again like clock work, he took the time to admire the structure around him.
He'd been in London again for a few years now after some time in Idris, but he never got tired of the Institute and it's intricate features.
The long tapestries dangled down toward the floor from the towering ceilings, adorning designs of stars and swords and different runes. Images of the archangel Raziel were scattered around the hallway walls, a homage to their patron and creator.
Leon often was reminded of a castle each time that he admired the architecture of the Institute, glad that he was placed there again. London was as beautiful as the Institute and sometimes, he wished to share the awe-inspiring beauty with the rest of London.
All that London could see was the ruins of the Church of All-Hallows-The-Less, which was destroyed in 1666 in the Great Fire of London. It was sad, really, because mundanes weren't allowed inside of the Institute and they'd never be able to experience it. But he sometimes felt selfish, glad that they couldn't and that he could have it to himself.
Since he was the tender age of five years old, Leon had been raised — and trained — in the London Institute. Most of his studies were there, if he wasn't studying in the Mumbai Institute like most of the young Shadowhunters.
After the death of his parents, Leon was raised by his mother's best friend and parabatai, Cerys Beauwine, and her husband. Cerys and Finley had just been married and had not yet started a family of their own — until after they adopted Leon.
He was eight when his adopted sister Niamh was born, and it wasn't until he was twelve when his other adopted sister, Tilly, was born.
Cerys never kept the truth from Leon — the truth about his parents and what had happened to them. But he still saw the Beauwine's as his family, they were all he'd ever known and all he ever had.
