The Aftermath Chronicles: A TMI FanFic

Part 18

A team of three, lead by Jocelyn, had been tracking Jace for most of the night.

He was hard to find for some reason.

But once their tracking runes finally got a lead on him, they discovered him hiding in plain sight.

Jocelyn stopped the Shadowhunters behind her.

She couldn't imagine what it was like losing a parabatai. But she had lost a husband and a son and almost lost Clary so many times so she could imagine Jace's grief. And to see Alec gone so young...

Alec had shown promise. He could have been the next Inquisitor or Consul. 

Jocelyn herself knew Magnus Bane. He was a family friend not to mention a great High Warlock who took his job seriously and kept Brooklyn under control.

Jocelyn crossed the street to where Jace was sitting in front of a souvenir shop which had probably been closed for hours. It was still raining and his thin shirt was soaked through. His head was hanging, streams of water dripping down. She could see stains of blood on his clothes.

She approached him slowly, unsure of what he might do. 

Should she speak?

Should she hug him?

She sat beside him on the sidewalk. The rain had already soaked through her gear. 

She glanced across the street at the other Shadowhunters waiting for her command. She waved them away and they went on their way back to the Institute.

Jocelyn didn't say anything. She didn't have to. He knew she was there.

After a minute, his head fell against her arm. She wrapped an arm around him, pulling him closer to him.

She was the mother he had never had.

..........

Clary was curled on a ball in her bed in the old house of Amatis Herondale, Luke's sister. 

Luke had draped a blanket over her and left a cup of coffee on her bedside table. 

Clary watch the clock on the wall tick by. 

Alec was gone.

Magnus was gone.

She felt alone even though she had never been close to either of them.

There was a knock at her door at 5:34:27. 

She could hear Luke's heavy footsteps enter.

"Your mom's with Jace," Luke said. 

But Clary couldn't bear to face Jace and put on a smile and promise him everything would be okay. Would he ever recover from Alec's death?

All of their plans for the future had crashed and burned in Clary's mind.

This was going to be one no one could get over.

"I don't want to see him," Clary said.

"Do you want me to stay in here?"

Clary shook her head and she heard the door shut at 5:35:05.

........

Isabelle was back in the Labyrinth, her own personal heaven.

She glanced around, hesitantly. This should have been a dream. But it was much too real. She could feel the dirt and tall grass beneath her toes and the wind rushing through the thin dress she hadn't had on in Idris.