"If you two are done flirting," I interject into Jonathan and the Seelie Queen's conversation, walking into the living room of the apartment. "We have more important matters to attend to."

Jonathan looked at me. "I wasn't flirting."

"I was." The Seelie Queen smiled deviously.

"Whatever. Let's cut to the chase," I crouched in front of her, folding my hands together. "You know why you're here. Your people have something that rightfully belongs to us— so, why don't you use your birds and your bees to tell the Seelie Court to hand over the Morning Star sword?"

She leaned down and held her face inches from mine to taunt. She challenged, "And if I don't comply?"

I pulled out one of my kindjals from my thigh sheath and placed the sharp blade to her neck. "I'm a good motivator."

"I knew it was too good to be true. You playing for the other side?" The Seelie Queen scoffed lightly. "I'd expect this behaviour from a proper Morgenstern-"

"Good." I pressed the blade against her skin, drawing a bit of blood from a small cut. "Clock's ticking, Queenie."

-

"I've secured the Queen." I walked into the living room and met Jonathan's back, as he stood facing the window, his attention elsewhere. "Jonathan, why haven't we left?"

"I guess I got distracted." Jonathan's voice was low and slightly shaky, spiking worry in me quickly.

"What does that mean?" I took a few steps further into the room. "What's wrong?"

Jonathan slowly turns to face me. "It's difficult for me to believe that this is actually happening."

"This?" I gestured between us. "Us- teamed up, on the verge of reclaiming what's rightfully ours?"

"Yeah— precisely that, you and me. Us." Jonathan folded his hands behind his back, his voice low and gruff. "The look you had in your eyes the first time you saw my true face the hatred, the disgust— I guess I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop."

A sigh left my lips. "I understand why you may feel that way— I haven't exactly been kind to you in the past. But, Jonathan- I've changed. My entire perspective has changed."

Jonathan stammered and said nothing. The look remained in his eyes and I knew my words didn't do much to ease his thoughts.

"Look," I walked towards him and stopped in front of him. "What Lilith did to me— what you did to me, enacting that spell with that warlock- I've realized how prejudice my behavior has been in the past. We're much more alike than I thought and I've been too naive to realize it because we were on different sides."

Jonathan's eyes softened slightly at my words so I continued. "I'm here. I've learned- we're partners, now. Have you even begun to realize how powerful we are together? And how unstoppable we'll be once we get our hands on our sword? You have me, now- there's no stopping us."

"You really believe that?" Jonathan inquired.

"Of course." I put my hands on his arms and gave him a comforting squeeze. "Jonathan, I am a prized jewel in your arsenal. They won't harm me- that will always give us the advantage. With our skills alone, they're no match for us."

"But you won't harm them either." Jonathan countered. "You hesitated to kill Alec when you had the chance- I was there-"

"Then you know I spared his life to send a message." I was quick to defend. "Not because I've gone soft-"

"You're blinded by your love for him." Jonathan's voice was heavy with the words. "Zee, you can deny it all you want but I see how you look at him. I see how quickly you can trust him— you falter. When it came to getting the job done, you hesitated. It seems like it can't ever just be us because a part of you will always belong to them. To him. It feels like I can't trust your word-"

"Jonathan, you can trust me." I enunciated my words. "I told you, my perspective's changed. I've been forced to see what's been before me this entire time— how alike we really are. Our entire lives, we've been wronged— tortured, raised by the same sadistic father for one purpose- to be unstoppable weapons. Soldiers. To fight against the Clave. We were never loved how we were supposed to be loved- we were taught that love was weakness and excused his torment as building. We were never free- always under someone's influence. But, now we have each other- we're in control. That's all we need. Don't you see? We'll have the sword and no one can stop us. We'll be too powerful— we can make what our father unleashed on the world look like a mere opening act. We're the stars of the show."

Something sparked in Jonathan's eye at the words flowing out of my mouth; an emotion I couldn't decipher.

"It is just us." I reminded him. "We're a team."

Jonathan suddenly moved from his entranced stance when he was hanging onto my every word and leaned his face closer to mine in attempt to close the distance between our faces.

That is not the reaction I wanted.

"And-" I put my hands on his shoulders immediately and pulled my face back as quickly as possible. "You will always be my brother."

Jonathan looked down in disappointment, swallowing hard and his expression tense.

"And, as my older brother— don't you think it's about time to teach me how to drive this place?"
I stepped back from him and gestured around the apartment, desperate to change the subject to remove the tension that had appeared. "It's my home too, isn't it?"

Jonathan's features relaxed as he looked at me. "What's mine is yours."

-

"Make sure it's the genuine article, Sister." Jonathan called out to me when we stood at the bridge in the middle of the Seelie Court, his blade to the Seelie Queen's throat as we made the trade.

I smiled wickedly at Meliorn who stared back at me with nothing but unease. He was completely tense, his stance was so still you'd think he was dead.

For a split moment, he tilted his head slightly to the side as if questioning what I was doing. When I didn't react, he sighed and placed the sword before us.

I put my kindjals back into my sheaths, walking towards them slowly. I opened and closed my fist before wrapping my hand around the grip of the Morningstar sword and pulling it up into the air. The blade erupted in flames, confirming that it was in fact our family heirloom.

"Rest easy, Jonathan." The corner of my mouth quirked up at the sword I held in my hand, not taking my eyes off the beauty as Jonathan let the Seelie Queen walk towards her people as they retreated quickly. "We can finally restore the Morgenstern name."

"You're not a Morgenstern." Jace's annoyance voice broke my concentration on the sword. Jonathan and I both swung back to look at where his voice came from. "Not anymore."

Jonathan and I fully turned to see Jace and Isabelle at the edge of the bridge. If they were here, that would mean the others were not too far behind. Not only them but they could have a team of Shadowhunters waiting for a signal.

We were being ambushed.

"I'm sure Alec delivered my message to you all." I smiled sweetly at Jace and Isabelle, pointing my new sword towards them. "Are you all really that eager to die?"

"For you?" Jace scoffed lightly. "Yeah."

My heart stopped when Isabelle pulled out a sword from behind her, one that glistened with fire just like mine. Except the flames that bounced off it were gold. And there was no mistaking what sword she had. "We're here for you, Zee— whether you like it or not."

Glorious.

"I'll handle Jace." Jonathan told me, walking towards Jace who began backing away with a small smirk as if this was going exactly as planned. "Have fun, Sister."

My jaw set as I grit my teeth, wasting no time to swing my sword for Isabelle's head. She blocked the blow quickly with Glorious, backing down the bridge the way the Seelies left; in the opposite direction of Jonathan and Jace.

I pointed my sword at her while I neared her, my blood boiling at the sight of her. "I don't know whether to be honoured or offended that you're trying to stab me and not Jonathan."

"You left me no choice." Isabelle stared at me warily, backing down off the bridge and onto the damp soil, holding a tight grip on her sword.

Anger fueled my actions as per usual; I leaped off the bridge and slashed the sword downwards, meeting hers with a loud clang that sent vibrations up my arms. "Bad choice giving you the responsibility of handling Glorious, don't you think? You were never really good with a sword-"

Isabelle blocked another blow as we moved further into the forest. "I'll make do-"

"You seem worried." I continued to taunt her, a humor filled laugh escaping my lips. "Good. I hope you know that after I kill you, I'm going to kill Alec. And Clary, and Jace- maybe even Simon for good measure-"

That last part seems to set Isabelle off, because the next time I knew, she had taken offense and was trying to disarm me while I was the one who had taken her role; blocking and dodging her swings.

Then at once, we both swung our arms back and took the offense, our swords colliding at with an immense amount of force. The blades lit up brightly when brought together so forcefully while we held our own. The flames glistened and casted a fade of color on our faces.

I had had enough.

My foot flew up and slammed into her ribcage, sending Isabelle stumbling back. I spun, kicking Glorious out of her hand and letting it land in the soil a few feet away from us before coming back another round so my foot came in contact with her jaw; hard.

Isabelle fell to the ground with a small shriek and I was quickly over her, straddling her waist and keeping her held down. My lips turned up into a smile looking down at her.

"You know, they say that worst pain a Shadowhunter can ever feel is the loss of their parabatai," I began with a humorless laugh, raising my blade as high as my arms would go. "It seems that only you've experienced it between us. I don't think that's fair— I think it's about time I felt that. Don't you agree?"

It was quick.

I hadn't noticed him at first but the arrow shot through the air quickly, piercing my shoulder blade and sent me falling back off Isabelle, who swung her foot up and kicked the my sword out of my hands. The sword flew through the air and landed in the soil a few feet away while I landed on my back with a grunt.

That arrow could have only belonged to one person.

"Oh, my dear fiancé." My teeth grit as I pushed myself up to my feet, pulling his arrow out of my shoulder with a grunt. "How I've missed you-"

Alec's lips quirked up into a sly smile. "I take it you're not too happy with me?"

"Oh, no- I'm overjoyed." My eyes lit up gold, my rune ability activating my Iratze. "This way I won't have to hunt you all down one by one."

"Zee!" Clary ran over by us, Simon at her side. "Stop!"

"Oh good, you're here-" A laugh left my lips, pulling my kindjals out and holding a tight grip on them. "I take it you all have a death wish?"

Clary held her ground. "Zee, this isn't you-"

"Super-villain is not a good look on you, Young!" Simon exclaimed loudly, his hands out in a defensive stance. "Trust me!"

"Morgenstern." I corrected him angrily while a hard expression had set itself onto my face. "Now, to more important matters- which one of you wants to die first?"

"If you do that, Zee-" Simon pressed on. "If you hurt us- if you kill one of us, that's a choice you're making. A choice you're gonna have to live with every day for the rest of your life."

"Do you really think I care?" I looked at him with disbelief. "I guess you didn't get the memo when I sent Alec back, but-"

I abruptly stopped talking at a distant shout that echoed through the air. It was Jonathan's shout, full of desperation and plead. "Zee!"

I froze in my place, panic crossing my features.

Jonathan was in trouble.

Deciding I would deal with them later, I began turning towards the shout, my voice falling into a murmur. "Jonathan needs me-"

But my arm was caught in an iron grip.

It all happened too quickly. Within seconds.

My head snapped in that direction, being greeted with the sight of Alec, who had swung his bow over his shoulder and caught my forearm in a tight grip with both his hands.

My jaw clenched in frustration and went to use the grip of my kindjal to knock him out with my free arm but I barely made it far enough to swing when another tight grip restrained me. The one behind this restraint was Simon.

Then joined Clary and Isabelle, throwing themselves to the ground and grabbing a hold of both my legs, keeping me still no matter how hard I struggled.

"Jace, now!" I was too distraught to figure out who had shouted the signal, but it was too late. Jace was running towards me at full speed and had leaped into the air, Glorious shining in his hand.

They had been distracting me.

"No!" A scream escaped my lips as soon as Jace pierced the blade into the binding rune, my entire body falling backwards and hitting the ground at the force. The others fell with me, keeping me held down so I wasn't successful in trying to pry away.

I was pinned to the ground, my legs and arms still in their grasps and Jace on top of me, holding me down while keeping the sword impaled into the rune.

Pain.

Unbearable, excruciating pain.

My throat was sore from how much I screamed as I felt the rune slowly fade from my flesh, the intensity of the affliction expanding throughout every single one of my limbs.

Eventually, when my screaming and struggling died down, Jace slowly pulled out the sword from me, tossing it aside. "You're gonna be okay-"

Their grip loosened, gently seating me up on the ground as I tried to catch my breath. Isabelle was rubbing my back, "Come on- almost there-"

"Did it work?" Alec's voice broke through everyone else's, his hands leaving my arm and grabbing onto my face, tilting it to face him. His large hands were shaking as they held my face gently, tearing my gaze from the ground and forcing me to meet his eyes. "Are you— are you back?"

I was blithe. I couldn't be more ecstatic that I was back to myself— that they brought me back. But, another emotion burned in my chest along with the happiness. Regret.

"I'm so-" I was struggling to find the right words to express how guilty I felt. "I'm so sorry, I-"

Alec didn't let me continue rambling out words, because his lips found mine within seconds of that confirmation.

I melted right into his soft touch, my hands shaking as I gripped the sleeves of his jacket to force them still.

Evidently, the kiss only lasted a few seconds because then I felt myself being pried from Alec's comforting touch back to the ground with the feeling of multiple arms around me and Simon's little victorious shout. "Yes!"

I lifted my head and looked down. Jace, Isabelle, Clary and Simon had tackled me and were hugging me in whatever spot available, while Alec watched seated next to us, a wide smile on his lips.

I missed them too. Though I wouldn't willingly admit it to any one of them.

"Oh, get off!" I swatted at their backs, can't helping a bubble of laughter that escapes my lips despite the regret and guilt burning in my chest. "Alright, enough, enough-"

They were all letting out their own little sounds of laughter as we all pushed ourselves to our feet.

I dusted myself off, taking a look around us. "Hey- my sword. It's gone-"

"Seems like Jonathan is too." Jace pointed ahead to the group of Shadowhunters rushing towards us without Jonathan in custody.

Before any of us could say anything else, a loud ringing caught our attention. One by one our head snapped to where the sound was coming from and our gaze fixed on the sword that was pierced into me moments ago.

Glorious.

"Simon, get down!" Isabelle was the one to shout, grabbing onto him and throwing herself and him to the ground when we understood what was about to happen.

Right as Jace, Clary, Alec and I threw ourselves to the ground, the sword blew into bits and pieces, shards flying everywhere.

"Izzy?" Simon's panicked voice filled the air moments later. "She got hit by shrapnel!"

-

"We're in Alicante." Alec's mouth was gaped open in shock when he peaked out the window the moment I dropped the magic I had learned from Jonathan less than a few hours ago.

"Wow." Simon's eyes were wide when he looked outside. "And we're in one piece, no less."

I dropped my arms to my sides, placing a hand on my hip. "What was that, Fangs?"

Simon looked at me, his eyes remaining wide and this time out of amusement. "It really is you-"

Jace crossed his arms and offered me a soft smile. "I think what Simon's trying to say is nice job."

"How's Iz?" I took a few steps.

"She's back up on her feet, and she's refusing help from any of us." Jace assured, then for quiet. "How are you?"

I didn't reply. Instead, I looked right at Alec, catching him already staring right at me.

"Uh," trailed off Clary looking between us, rushing Simon and Jace out of the room. "We'll give you guys a minute."

My eyes remained on Alec until the sound of their rushed footsteps faded away. The more I stared the worse I felt and I had never felt as horrible as I did now.

Alec knew exactly what was on my mind and where this conversation was going to lead instantly. "You weren't in your right mind."

"But I was." I shot back at him, crossing my arms over my chest and shaking my head in shame. "I wasn't- possessed- it's not like what Jace went through. I felt for every decision I made, I was in complete control of my actions and I chose wrong. Again and again."

"Zee, that spell sent you over the edge. It was the perfect plan to get you right where he wanted you." Alec stepped closer to me, his eyes lingering with mine. "He broke you. There was nothing you could do and no one blames you for that— I don't blame you for it."

"I became the worst version of myself." My voice went quiet and I couldn't help my eyes starting to water slightly at the thought. "I almost killed you. I wanted to kill you- I wanted to kill all of you- I wanted to make everyone suffer. I was the one who encouraged him farther, I believed in it. I stuck with it without another thought, I wanted to cause destruction- I wanted everyone to be afraid of me. I wanted to help Jonathan, I wanted it all-"

"Because of what was done to you." Alec reached and grabbed my face. "You have been put through hell more times than I can count. That spell made you relive— everything that's ever hurt you. That's ever affected you negatively, anything that has ever damaged you. You reacted the way anyone would. I understand why you acted the way you did and why you had that mindset. What matters now is that you're back home. With me."

"You keep excusing my actions." My eyes watered. "You keep defending me— I need to be held accountable-"

"This is not your fault." Alec cut me off with a stern tone. "It's Jonathan's. Jonathan has been countlessly trying to influence you. He's gone as fast as to glamour himself to look like Jace to get close to you— Jonathan was behind the spell that changed you. This wasn't your fault. And no one blames you."

"I should've been stronger." The tears in my eyes fell despite how hard I tried to keep them from doing so. "I should've fought harder-"

"You fought your best." Alec wiped the tears that fell from my eyes with the pads of his thumbs. "And I promise you, Jonathan will pay for what he did to you-"

I couldn't keep it back any longer; my hands covered my mouth when a sob escaped my lips, not being able to hold it together anymore.

Alec let go of my face and wrapped his arms around me tightly, running his fingers through my hair with one hand and rubbing my back with the other.

-

"Jonathan!" My shout was so loud a sharp pain erupted in my throat. The demon towers had fallen that night in Alicante, and a huge opening had broken into the starlit sky. The navy blue tint in the sky quickly turned blood red because the opening was an enormous rift that connected our world and Edom, the skies and grounds now crawling and soaring with any demon you could think of and then some. "What have you done?"

Jonathan held our family sword tightly on his hands, his expression cold as he turned to face Jace and I. He has sprouted dark wings and his energy was completely different. He was too far gone now. "You wanted a monster. Here I am."

"You need to stop this." I took a step towards him. "Now."

"There is no stopping this." Jonathan seethed through his teeth. "What happened, Sister? This is what you wanted, wasn't it? We were supposed to do this together. This was our plan- until you turned your back on me-"

"This isn't right!" I shouted loudly over the roars and snarls of demons all around us. "You are killing innocent people to get back at me-"

"And every one of those deaths will be on your hands." Jonathan snipped at me. "Every demon you banish ends up on the other side of that rift, ready to come back again and again and again until everybody in this city is dead!"

"That includes Zee!" Jace shouted at him.

"Forget what our plan was-" I tried reasoning with him. "When you were first resurrected, you told me you wanted to be better. You said you wanted to be like me- that you wanted to be good- this is not what good looks like! Jonathan, you're my brother— please. I'm begging you- close the rift-"

"It's too late for me now." Jonathan seemed angry with my words rather than touched. I had not gotten through to him. "You could've swayed me— but, you abandoned me. You went back to them- just like I knew you would-"

"God damn it, Jonathan!" I was pleading at this point. "Your problem is with me! Not the city- so, just- just close the rift, and I'll let you kill me. You can make my death as slow and painful as you want, I give myself up! This is my fault, isn't it? I abandoned you, so just- just kill me!"

Jace immediately grabbed my arm out of overprotectiveness, his glare fixed on me with a look in his eyes that only meant no.

But, regardless of what Jace thought, and regardless of all the ultimatums I was giving Jonathan, he remained unconvinced. He was too damaged to be swayed.

"It doesn't matter what I do." Jonathan stared at me with nothing but hatred. He held the sword so we could see it clear enough in front of us. If I could get close enough, I could get my hands on the sword and close the rift myself. I was a Morgenstern, I had power over the sword. If I could just—

No.

Jonathan tightened his fist, the entire sword disintegrating in his hand. He had destroyed the word. He glared at me and shouted as loud as he could. "You will never love me back!"

My eyes widened and I could no longer keep my feet planted on the ground. I threw myself at Jonathan impulsively, tackling him to the ground. I balled my fists as tightly as I could and pounded my fists into his face as hard as I possibly could.

I only got a few hits before I felt him grip onto my arms tightly and lift up into the air. My heart sunk to my stomach as I heard Jace's panicked scream, "Zee!"

Jonathan dragged me right up to the rift, the burning heat of Edom radiating onto my face. Demons flew all around us, some brushing right by me, sending shivers up my spine.

"The moment we enter the rift, you will die within seconds." Jonathan stared at me, his eyes completely black. Blood was streaming down his nose and his mouth from where I had punched him. He held me effortlessly but tightly by my forearms and I could feel that I would have bruises. "You want to die so badly? I will gladly grant your wish-"

My jaw clenched.

How insulting. I offered myself as a sacrifice so he could spare Alicante. I would not die for nothing.

I brought my legs up and slammed both feet into his ribcage, forcing himself to let go of me and letting me fall through the air.

Panic strikes in me.

Did I think falling to my death would be less painful than dying within seconds?

I thought quickly. My eyes lit up immediately and my portal rune shone before me, one I quickly activated and went through. I pictured one of the buildings near where I was standing with Jace right as I entered the portal so I wouldn't get lost in limbo just trying to save my own life.

The portal opened and I landed on my knees and palms on the hard cement of the roof. I could already feel that I had many scraps on my palms and my knees were bleeding. I barely had any time to process when the floor beneath me trembled.

My heart stopped.

The building was collapsing.

By the Angel. I couldn't have picked a better place to land, right?

The sound of cement breaking and pillars falling mixed with the screams of different people and the shrieks of the many variety of demons. I was just about to push myself up to my feet when something hard hit my head.

I collapsed back onto the ground and rolled onto my back. I touched my temple and brought it to my blurry vision. Blood.

I looked aside to see a piece of the pillar on this building that broken off. Just my luck.

I forced myself onto my feet despite my stumbling and blurred vision with, ducking whenever a demon flew by my head and tried to grab me off the shaking roof with its talons.

I grabbed onto the edge of the building right as it started to fall and crumble, throwing myself off it. I landed on the ground and barely kept my balance, rolling a few times til my side hit a pillar holding up the hall.

"Zee!" Jace was rushing towards me, his jacket slightly clawed at and his seraph blade dripping with demon blood. "I'm sorry- I couldn't find you, I saw you fall— I tried following-"

"I'm alright." I assured him, forcing myself up to a seating position, a hand to my head. "I'm-"

"Your head's bleeding-" Jace dropped his blade and crouched next to me. He placed a hand on my back and the other was pushing some of my hair out of the way so he could get a better look at my wound to see if it could be healed with just an Iratze or if it needed real medical attention. "I don't have my stele on me— where's yours?"

I tried keeping my eyes open. "I don't either."

"Alright, let me look." Jace was gentle with his touch so he wouldn't hurt me. "I'll carry you back to the Accords Hall-"

"I'm sorry." I couldn't help but apologize, leaning my head against his arm, closing my eyes for just a minute. "This is my fault. I helped him get the sword. I turned on him, and now— now everyone's going to die because of me."

"Shhh." Jace pushed more of my hair out of my face, letting me rest of him. "It's not your fault."

"It is my fault. It is-" My words were murmured together. My head was pounding and the loud explosions were making it worse. I blinked a few times, squinting my eyes to look ahead of us.

"Jace-" I called his name when I caught eye of the heard of demons heading towards us, snarling and shrieking. They were running at full speed. "Jace, demons-"

"I know." Jace pursed his lips, his tone remaining soothing. He grabbed onto his seraph blade while still holding me up. "I'll take care of it. I need you to lean against this pillar, okay?"

"Jace, there's too many-" I placed my burning palms onto the rough ground, forcing myself off him so I was leaning forward on my hands instead. "I've got it-"

Jace immediately shook his head, looking between me and the group of demons a few feet away from us, slowly standing up to his feet. "Zee, don't be ridiculous- you can barely stand."

I ignored him and closed my eyes.

Ignoring the pain in my head and how my body was aching all over, I forced myself to focus. On my abilities. I opened my eyes and they were glowing gold; and a blast similar to the one that's escaped me many times before left me and burned the demons coming for us the moment it touched their burnt skin. The demons were no match for the pure angelic energy.

I guess spending time with Jonathan had its perks. I had him help me hone my abilities more, and most especially the blasts of energy that has come to protect me many times. The blasts I didn't know how to control. I wasn't the best at it yet, regrettably, and it always takes a lot of energy out of me but it was a work in progress.

Thank the Angel it worked this time.

A wave of exhaustion flooded over me. Jace dropped his sword and was quick to fall back to his knees and catch me before I toppled over and hit my head again. "How the hell did you do that?"

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his chest again. "I'll explain later-"

"Zee, we need to go-" Jace suddenly said, gripping onto my arms and tried hauling me up quickly at the sound of crumbling. The pillar we were leaning on was deteriorating. In seconds, the pillar would come down on us like the buildings were falling into pieces.

I stumbled and grabbed onto the sleeves of his shirt, trying to steady my feet when a loud crack sounded the air.

The pillar was coming down on us.

Jace was tugging on my arm and throwing it around his neck so he could lift me up, both our gazes now upward so we could do our best to dodge the falling pieces.

But suddenly the shower of dust, pebbles and large pieces of cement stopped. They were being held up by a coat of blue magic and then vanished into thin air.

My heart stopped.

"Sorry I'm late." Magnus' voice was not hard to recognize, my eyes wide as I looked at him, trying to focus my vision. "Traffic was hell."

"Magnus, what're you doing here?" My voice was raspy and I held onto Jace, who had scooped me up into his arms. "You can't be here— it's too dangerous-"

"I can't be anywhere else." Magnus walked over to us. "Let me see her head, Jace-"

"No, no, you don't understand-" I was stammering, shaking my head while Magnus tried to keep it still. "Magnus, you have to go-"

"Biscuit, I know about the deal." Magnus cut me off, already using his magic on me. "I know why you did what you did- I know why you said those things. It's okay-"

"You- what?" I stuttered and could feel myself slowly slip from consciousness. "Magnus-"

"It's okay, Biscuit." Magnus' soothing voice filled the darkness that poured over my vision like spilt paint. "It's okay-"

-

"Where's the sword?" Clary questioned when Jace, Magnus and I joined her, Alec and Isabelle in the empty Accords Hall after Magnus healed the injury to my head.

I swallowed hard, locking eyes with Alec. "Jonathan destroyed it."

"We can't close the rift." Jace sounded just as defeated as I did when he got the sentence out.

Isabelle stared out at the hell that was reigning; dismayed. "This is it, isn't it?"

When Isabelle uttered the words, the realization had dawned on all of us. There was no hope. We were all going to die tonight.

I slowly walked over to Alec, my arms weakly wrapping around his middle. "I'm sorry."

Alec shushed me quietly, wrapping his arms around me, his voice quiet. "At least we're together."

I shrugged lightly and closed my eyes when Alec leaned down, pressing his forehead against mine. Alec tensed at the sound of another explosion, followed by dying screams and shrieking demons. My eyes watered.

"If we're going to die tonight." Alec suddenly broke the silence between the two of us, his voice remaining quiet. He grabbed my face with one hand. "I, Alec, take you, Zee, to be my-"

"What're you doing?" My eyes shot open, wide as ever. "Stop-"

Alec let out a humorless laugh at my reaction. "I'm marrying you before we die-"

I tense. "You can't do that-"

"Why not?" He caressed my cheek with his thumb, staring right into my teary eyes.

"Because- you just- you can't-" My heart started to race. Those words were making this much too real for me. Our deaths would be hard enough. "Don't-"

"I, Alec, take you, Zee to be my wedded wife." Alec continued regardless of my protest. "To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish til death do us part."

I stared at him, tears now streaming down my face. I wasn't the only one crying it had seemed because we had caught everyone's attention. Isabelle covered her mouth to muffle a sob.

My voice broke. "That's- the mundane saying."

"Well, I don't think I can get my hands on one of the Silent Brothers to bond us together with the Wedded Union Rune at the moment so I think this'll have to do for now." Alec's eyes were watering now. "Your turn."

Tears were spilling uncontrollably but I let out shakily. "I, Zee, take you, Alec to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish til death do us part."

Alec leaned down and kissed me gently, tears now streaming down his own cheeks. I kissed him for a few moments before I broke away, holding onto him as tightly as I could.

How I wished we had more time.

Magnus suddenly spoke. "My father told me about— a way to increase my power."

"Enough to close the rift?" Clary looked at him.

"Potentially, yes." Magnus faced us all, swallowing hard. "The strength I would need to pull it off can only come from one place."

My attention was caught. "Edom?"

He stared at me silently.

"No-" I let go of Alec. "Magnus, don't."

"We can only fight them off for so long, Biscuit." Magnus reasoned, "The demons will keep coming back unless we seal the rift— it's the only way to keep you all safe."

"Magnus, you can't!" I argued, walking over to him immediately. "You're always fixing my mistakes- you've sacrificed yourself because of me too many times, I— you can't."

"It's okay. I want to protect all of you-" Magnus put his hands on my shoulders, his voice lowering. "You can have a real wedding-"

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

Magnus pressed a kiss to my forehead before backing away a few steps, opening a portal above him so he could enter Edom.

"I'll figure something out." My voice was strained and shaky. "I'll figure out a plan- I'll get you out of there- I promise-"

Magnus looked at me with a soft smile because he knew there was no getting out of Edom for him. If he did, the rift would reopen.

But I wouldn't give up.

Magnus entered the portal and disappeared within seconds. Moments later, a wave of blue magic covered the rift and prevented demons from entering Alicante at all.

He saved us.

authors note:

hi, so much went into this chapter I'm so exhausted it's literally the ams rn

i like zee as a villain honestly, she's very- ruthless, it's interesting to write

but, just a little thingy thing you guys should know: since zee was also spelled rather than just going over to jonathan's side, the gang got an antidote and poured it on the sword so when zee was stabbed, she was also affected with said potion ... if that makes that sense, idek I'm so tired

also, her practicing her blasting super ability stuff is for a reason i promise

but ahhh when she gets back to herself and everyone hugs her ahhh it's all so cute I'm in love

zee and jace >>>

zee and magnus >>>

I'm so soft for zalec tho, the ending? them getting "married" ??? I'm soft

but, thank you so much for 123k !!!

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