"You want another drink of water?"

Isabelle coughed violently which was enough to make Simon cringe and look away. "No. I can't keep anything down, Simon. I can't eat. I can't drink. Every time I cough, I cough up blood-"

"Okay. I get it. You don't have to go into details. Can I at least get you a cool cloth? You're burning up again."

When Isabelle didn't protest, Simon dipped a cloth into a bucket of water and squeezed it before placing it on her forehead. She winced in shock but never moved away from his touch.

"I think I saw Magnus leave earlier. He didn't look too happy about something," Simon whispered as he dabbed her forehead with the cloth. "Wonder was that was about...."

"Probably something Alec related," Isabelle managed to rasp. She coughed again before clearing her throat, holding back a mouthful of vomit that threatened to come out. "Speaking of my brother, where is he anyway? He didn't come visit me yet."

Shrugging, Simon dipped the cloth in the water again. "I'm not sure. I think he's out with the scavengers but he should be back-"

He paused when Isabelle's shirt shifted away to reveal what looked like several teeth marks surrounded by a purple bruise. When she tried to cover it back up, Simon held her wrist gently in place to prevent her from hiding it.

"Iz....what the hell?" He breathed.

"Simon, it's nothing-"

"Oh it's something. And we're going to talk about this something. When the hell did this happen, Izzy? More importantly....why didn't you tell anyone?"

Isabelle's lower lip quivered but she didn't cry. "When we were shooting at Valentine's men after Max died. A Forsaken grabbed hold of me from behind and bit down on my shoulder."

Simon looked at the wound for a second time. "But how did it get past inspection?"

"I told them it was from a person that wasn't dead."

Simon groaned. "Jesus, Isabelle. You should've told someone!"

Isabelle laughed, seemingly finding this funny. "Tell someone? Even if I did there was nothing anyone could've done, Simon. There's no cure. I'm turning into a Forsaken and it's only a matter of time before I'm craving human flesh-"

"Stop! Just-just stop," Simon's voice wavered. "I can't bear to see you like this anymore, Iz. I love you too much."

Isabelle pulled him in closer to her and kissed his cheek. "I know you do, baby. I love you too. But you and I both know what's coming and the inevitable."

A nurse stepped into the curtained area where they were. She smiled before checking Isabelle's vitals and feeling her forehead.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

Isabelle coughed. A mouthful of blood came up but she quickly swallowed it, much to her disgust. "Still hot and shaky but fine. All things considered....where's my brother?"

The nurse glanced at her from a clipboard. "Which one?"

"Dark haired one. Alec. Where is he?"

The nurse put the clipboard down with a sigh. "As far as I know, your brother's boyfriend stormed out of the building not too long ago. He didn't look too happy so something must've happened out in the city."

Isabelle shot Simon a look of shock. "Did you know about this?!"

"No!" Simon squeaked. "I swear to god I had no idea. Last I saw Magnus was in the cafeteria this morning. I stayed here with you for most of that time so how could I possibly know?"

He made sense. As soon as Isabelle was admitted to the infirmary, he'd been glued to her side nearly the entire time. There was no way he could've known if anything happened to Alec outside the Institute. "You're right. I didn't mean to sound accusatory."

He kissed her forehead. "No apology need. You're concerned for Alec. I get it. But you really do need to rest right now before things...uh...get worse."

Isabelle nodded. "If I turn in my sleep and I bite you, is it considered to be a love bite?"

Simon snorted as he laughed. "Still as funny as ever."

Isabelle coughed and shrugged. "Always."

----------

"Jace. I'm being serious."

"I know. That's what's confusing me. You actually enjoy it down here?"

Clary was seated on top of an old washer, wiping the soot off her face. Since she started working down in the boiler room, Jace had been breathing down her neck about choosing a different job position and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"It's hot as hell down here and it stinks. You could get overheated or something. Can't you just pick another job?"

Clary just watched in silence as Jace kicked a dirty rag across the floor. The longer she stayed quiet, the more irritated she saw him become. "I gave you my answer, Jace. So don't ask me or push me anymore. You understand?"

Feeling defeated, Jace nodded. "Sure. Fine. But just be careful when you're down here-"

"I can take care of myself. You're forgetting I have a black belt, remember?" She pulled him in closer to her by the shirt. "You worry too much, babe. What's got you so wound up?"

Jace sighed. "I don't know. It just feels like something isn't right. I can't describe it."

"And you don't have to. I believe you. There's something off about this place that's for sure." Clary kissed him on the lips before hopping down off the washer. "My break is almost over so I should be heading back. I'll see you at dinner tonight?"

Jace kissed her again. "Absolutely. Save me a seat if I'm late."

"Will do. Love you."

"Love you too."

Stepping out from the old basement was such a relief. The cool air felt like a sudden climate change compared to the heat of the basement but it was nice. Jace was glad he didn't choose any jobs down in that hellhole. Calling it Hell felt more accurate than just calling it a boiler room.

He was about to make a turn into the main control room when the Institute doors exploded open. A very angry looking Alec stormed past everyone, covered in dirt and grime and not caring whether or not he knocked people out of his way. Magnus followed close behind. He looked just as worse for wear.

Alec picked Jace out in the crowd and charged over. "Where's Lydia? I need to talk to her."

"I don't know. Her office I guess? Just ask one of her goons." Jace looked his older brother up and down. "Jesus, dude. Where have you been? The rest of the scavenger crew came back long ago."

The laugh that escaped Alec's throat sounded sarcastic. "That's a story for later tonight. Right now I need to see Izzy. Lydia can wait."

Jace nodded. "Okay. Well Izzy's at the infirmary. Simon should be with her. He's been with her the entire time."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

Jace shook his head. "No. I haven't seen either of them since they left at lunch to go see the doctor." His voice grew soft as he spoke again. "Alec? Is our sister going to be okay?"

Alec was suddenly reminded of their childhood when Jace would use a soft voice whenever he was worried about something. "Absolutely. She's a soldier. There's nothing she can't handle," he reassured his little brother. "I'm going to go check up on her. Magnus also needs help bringing back the supplies he stole."

"I borrowed them. It's technically not stealing if you're bringing something back," Magnus pointed out. "But he's right. I need to bring all this unused stuff back-but this Hershey bar stays with me. Come on, Blondie. Let's start with the weapons."

Like Jace said, Simon was at the infirmary. He was just coming out the door when he saw Alec charging towards him at full speed.

"Izzy." Alec gasped for air, trying to catch his breath. "I need to see her-"

"Whoa. Hey. She's sleeping right now. She finally closed her eyes after coughing for hours on end." Simon moved Alec off to the side, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's not looking good, Alec. I don't know if she's going to make it."

Alec worriedly rubbed the back of his neck. "So what's wrong with her? Did the doctor even say?" When Simon bit his lip, Alec knew it was something else entirely. "Simon. You need to tell me right now what the fuck is wrong with my sister or so help me god I'll bash your skull in."

Simon winced. "Sounds lovely. I was going to tell you anyway so the threat was uncalled for." He took a deep breath to steady himself. "She told me...she told me she was bit."

Alec stared down at Simon. "Bit? How? When?"

"During the shootout when Max died. She said she was bit then but didn't say anything in case it worried us."

"Worried us," Alec snorted. "Of course it's going to fucking worry us. She's turning. She's going to die if we don't do something-"

"Alec," Simon's voice was harsh enough to cut Alec off. "She's going to die anyway. You know there's no cure. Plus she was bit in a spot that we can't really...you know. Amputate. That sort of thing."

There was a brief moment where Alec thought for sure he was going to vomit. He just lost his little brother. Losing Isabelle would be too soon and too painful. Maybe this was his punishment for not taking better care of them like he promised his parents. Life wasn't fair, he knew this. But it seemed to be much more unfair to him than anyone else.

"She wants to see you though. She asked for you earlier but I told her you weren't here." Simon cracked open the infirmary door an inch. "Go to her. She doesn't have much time left, dude. So go put a smile on her beautiful face."

Alec's breath shook as he peered inside. "You can put a smile on her face too, Simon."

Simon smiled. "Not like you can. Nowhere near."

Isabelle was hooked up to an IV drip along with a respiratory machine and a heart monitor. It was frightening to see her so fragile looking; Alec always knew her as a fearless and powerful warrior who never backed down from a fight. The way she was laying in that hospital bed looked like one fight she probably lost.

"Instead of standing there and staring at me like a creep, how about you come over here and give me a hug?" Her voice croaked, pulling Alec out of his own worst nightmare.

"Izzy," he breathed. "I'm so sorry I couldn't get here sooner. If I had known-"

"You couldn't have. But I'm assuming Simon told you about why I'm really in here?" She half smiled when Alec nodded. "Of course he did. Kind and loving Simon. He's been with me the entire time, taking care of me better than what the doctor has."

Alec stroked a strand of sweaty hair from her face. "Iz. You really should've said something to me instead of keeping it a secret."

She laughed harshly at this. "What could you have done, Alec? Unless you're carrying a cure in your pocket there's absolutely nothing you could've done to save me." Isabelle suddenly sat up in bed, a scared expression on her face. "You have to kill me. Before they get to me."

The fear in his sister's eyes made the hair on the back of Alec's neck rise. "What? Izzy, I don't know what you're talking about. Who's going to get you?"

The grip on his hands was so tight that he winced in pain. But Isabelle didn't seem to notice. "I don't want to become one of those things, big bro. I won't become the monster that killed so many of our family and friends. Promise me."

Finally freed from her grip, Alec held her shoulders gently to steady her and calm her down. "Hey. You're feverish. This is just the sickness talking, okay? The doctors are going to make you better-"

"ALEC!" She yelled. "You're not listening to me. I'm only of any use to them if I'm alive. Alive or undead. They can't use me if I'm completely dead, okay? So take that scalpel and just....do what you have to do."

Alec glanced over at the scalpel on the operating table beside them. "No. Absolutely not."

"You have to-"

"I'm not fucking stabbing my little sister in the head!"

"Well if you don't I'm not going to be your little sister anymore, now will I?" She lowered her voice to a whisper, leaning in closer to say something private. "Please do this one thing for me, Alec. I don't want to become another experiment."

"Experi-what?" Alec shook his hand and waved a hand dismissively. "Never mind. Look....this isn't easy for me, alright? This is a pretty....big last request."

Isabelle nodded. "I know. But you're the only person I trust enough to do it."

"Not even Simon?"

"He knows how much you mean to me. So he understands."

With a shuddering breath, Alec picked up the scalpel off the table. It felt cold and heavy in his hand; much like how he knew he was going to feel once this situation was done and over with. Even his reflection in the metal felt like an eerie foreshadowing of the future; his face was covered in grime (and quite possibly blood) which made the shadows under his eyes seem darker than they already appeared. As he watched one tear stream down his cheek, it left behind a path of clear skin on his face.

"Alec. Please don't cry. If you cry then I end up crying," Isabelle whispered as she wiped her own cheeks.

"You never cry though. I've never seen you cry before."

"That's because I never do it around you," she chuckled through a sob. "You're like a micromanager sometimes. Every little thing concerns you and it honestly used to drive me insane when we were younger. But now I kind of like it."

Alec let his hand be held and kissed while Isabelle cried quietly into his skin. Her hands were so much smaller than his were, her fingers barely the length of his own. "Remember when we were kids you used to brag that you were taller than me?"

She laughed. "Yeah. Then you hit puberty and began making fun of me for being short." Isabelle looked down at their hands with a sigh. "You carried so much weight with these hands, Alec. Your shoulders too. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this. You truly don't deserve any of it."

Alec shrugged. "I don't mind."

"Fuck off. You mind. You just don't say anything. Look," she gripped his chin and forced him to look her in the eye. "When I'm gone, you need to investigate warehouse 6 and 7. They're up to something in there and it could potentially kill us all. You have to stop them, Alec. Stop them before it's too late."

Not really understanding what she was talking about, Alec nodded anyway. "Okay. I will. If it means that much to you then I definitely will."

Isabelle kissed his cheek before laying back against her pillow to close her eyes. "I'm not afraid of dying. It'll just be like taking a long nap-one which I definitely need." She then peeked open an eye to look at him. "I'll tell mom, dad and Max that you said hello," also adding on to relieve the tension, "and for fuck's sake, make it official with Magnus already. The sexual tension between you two is unbearable."

His hand might've been shaking with fear but Alec kept his face steady as he watched Isabelle lie back again and close her eyes, lifting the scalpel above his head. "I love you, Izzy. I'm so sorry...."

Then he brought it down.

----------

Magnus was sitting outside the infirmary on the bench beside Simon. Usually, Simon was a talker but he remained absolutely silent as they both waited for Alec to come back out and join them again.

"I wonder what they're talking about in there," Simon finally whispered.

"He was in there for a while, wasn't he?" Magnus rubbed his tired eyes with a groan. "Maybe I should go in and check on-"

The door suddenly burst open. Alec stood in the doorway, fresh blood covering the front of his shirt and his face. His eyes looked almost wild but the rest of his face remained emotionless. Cold.

Magnus slowly got to his feet. "....Alexander? Is everything alright?"

Simon began wailing, shoving past the eldest Lightwood to get inside the infirmary. Magnus couldn't see what was happening inside but judging by the young man's anguished sobs, it couldn't have been anything good.

"I'm going to go take a shower then go to bed early," Alec spoke in a low voice that didn't sound like his own. "It's been a long day."

Magnus didn't even have time to reach out to him. Alec shot down the hallway so fast that all Magnus had to do was blink and he was suddenly gone.

But it wasn't the last he saw of Alec. After dinner that evening, he stole another sandwich and snuck it back into their room where the oldest Lightwood was sitting up in bed, feet flat on the floor with his elbows on his knees and his head hung low.

Magnus knocked on the door, regardless if it was his own room or not. "Brought you some dinner. It wasn't in my shirt this time so you don't have to worry about that old shirt smell when you eat it." Alec said nothing so Magnus placed the sandwich on their bedside table before taking a spot beside him on the bed. "You look a lot better now that you're all cleaned up. Is that sandalwood shampoo I smell?"

Alec shrugged but said nothing.

Taking this as a sign to shut up, Magnus sighed heavily. His eyes roamed over their tiny room for about a minute before he felt a hand close in around his. He looked down to see Alec's fingers entwined in his own, fingernails still dirty near the cuticles and nails bitten down to the bed.

"I killed my sister, Magnus. I didn't want to do it but she made me promise."

Magnus squeezed the other man's hand. "It's okay. Let it out. I'm listening."

So Alec let it out. "I killed my brother and sister in the span of a week. I'm a monster, Magnus. I couldn't save them so instead I had to kill them. What would our parents think?"

When he began to sob, Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec and hugged him tight. "You listen to me, Alexander Lightwood. You are not a monster. If anything, you're a saviour. You saved Max from continuing on as a Forsaken. You saved Isabelle from becoming one. I think you're absolutely incredible in my eyes."

Alec looked up at him through wet eyelashes. "How can you think that? You saw me when I came out of the infirmary. I was emotionless. A robot."

With a sigh, Magnus got down off the bed to kneel down in front of Alec. "Everyone copes in different ways. I'm not saying you'll feel better tomorrow or anytime soon but it does get easier with time. You still have Jace and Clary and Simon. You still have me and I'll try my best to comfort you when I can, okay? Promise me that you'll say something when you're feeling down?"

Alec leaned into the hand that Magnus had gently placed on his cheek. "Thank you. But I can't keep making promises anymore. Things never turn out right when I do."

Magnus bowed his head in understanding. "Alright. I won't force you to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

As Magnus went over to a small pile of clothes to start folding them, Alec remembered what Isabelle told him before she died. "Hey. You work in the agricultural warehouse."

Magnus glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Do you know anything about warehouse 6 and 7?"

A shirt fell to the floor so Magnus bent down and picked it up. "No. But I heard from one of my coworkers that there's actually ten warehouses. Not just seven."

"Ten? Then why was Izzy so worried about 6 and 7?"

"I have no idea." Magnus put their folded clothes away on top of a dresser. "But personally I think six and seven are just a ruse to keep people from snooping around."

Alec ran a hand through his already messy hair. "Fuck. So eight, nine and ten are the ones we have to really worry about. Wherever they are and whatever's inside....we have to go find them, Magnus. They could be the answer to the talking Forsaken we heard earlier."

Magnus sat on the bed again. "Yeah about that....are you going to tell anyone what we saw? What we heard?"

That made Alec think for a moment. Would the rest of their group appreciate huge things like this being kept from them? Alec certainly didn't think so. At least he wouldn't want something like this kept a secret from him. He'd want to know. "Probably not. They have enough on their plates now as it is."

"And you don't?" Magnus pressed his forehead into Alec's with a deep sigh. "I hate how you carry everything on your shoulders. At least let me bear some of the weight for you."

"You do. You are right now." Alec kissed Magnus on the lips, slowly at first, then picking up speed once Magnus began to enthusiastically kiss him back. "Izzy said before she died-" he moaned as Magnus kissed his weak spot on his neck. "Izzy wanted me to make it official with you."

Magnus laughed into his neck. "Did she now?"

"The sexual tension between us was unbearable."

"Well she's not wrong. It drives me crazy looking at you everyday and wanting to be with you so bad but I'm always unsure if you feel the same way."

Gently, Alec pushed Magnus away to look him in the eyes. "I do want to be with you. More than anything and anyone else in the world."

A smile as bright as the sun stretched across Magnus' face. "So are we official?"

"Yes," Alec leaned upwards to kiss Magnus, "we are official."

They both giggled as they kissed each other again, eventually falling asleep in each other's arms in the bed for the rest of the night.

Isabelle would've been proud.