"Zee." Jace said to me from across the breakfast table, his gaze right on me. "You haven't touched your breakfast-"

"Hm? Oh-" I nodded lightly in response, keeping my gaze on the book I was currently reading, my arms folding on the table and my face practically shoved into the book.

Jace repeated himself. "Zee."

"Yes, Jace?" I don't look up.

Jace stared at me. "I know what you're doing."

"What am I doing?" I questioned.

"You're distracting yourself." Jace said to me. "What happened with Jonathan wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was." I actually looked up and met his eyes. "I lost him. I had him, and I lost him- if I didn't screw up, we'd have him in a cell right now-"

"And it's okay." Jace emphasized. "We have patrols canvassing the entire city- if he's still here, we'll find him. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." I quietly murmured and looked back down at my book. "He's difficult enough to catch as it is."

"Zee." Jace said my name again, making me huff and look up at him, my gaze falling upon the sight of him holding a fork towards me, as he had cut a piece off his pancake to feed to me. "Open-"

I sighed quietly and leaned forward a bit, taking the bite off his fork, my eyes following as Isabelle sat down at our table, later joined by Clary.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry." Isabelle dropped her tray on the table and immediately stuffed her face with food.

"By the Angel." I scanned her. "Where have you been all morning?"

"So, I found a data chip inside Greenlaw's stomach." Isabelle turned toward me, swallowing her food. "But-it's highly encrypted- it's going to take me some time to crack."

"Hey-" Jace snipped when she snagged a piece of bacon off his plate. "Hands off my bacon."

Isabelle was quick to shoot back. "Guess you need to guard your food better."

"Hey-" Jace looked up when Alec and Magnus sat down at our table. "Magnus, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, where do I start?" Magnus sighed immediately. "I just moved out of my apartment, but unfortunately, my real estate agent died a few hundred years ago, so finding a new place has been a bit of a struggle."

Alec looked between us with a hopeful smile. "In the meantime, he's going to be living with us for a little while."

I immediately chimed in. "That's great-"

"Absolutely." Jace agreed with me.

Isabelle and Clary both smiled. "Welcome to the Institute, Magnus."

"Glad to be here." Magnus smiled but barely.

Then, my phone buzzed in my pocket, making me pull it out and answer it right then and there. "Hello?"

"Zee." Luke's voice filled the line.

"Oh, hey-" I greeted him. "Uh- whose number is this?"

Luke exhaled. "It's the precinct's."

"Did they give you your badge back?" I ask.

"Not exactly." Luke admitted. "The vampires attacked the Jade Wolf- and they killed most of the pack. The police think that I did it."

My eyes widen. "What?-"

"There's no time to explain." Luke quickly said. "I need you to tell the Shadowhunters what happened. I gotta go-"

"Wait, Luke-" I began.

"Don't worry about me, kiddo." He cut me off. "I love you-"

Then, he hung up before I could speak again.

"What is it?" Jace was looking right at me. "What happened?"

-

"Your transport's on its way here." The man said to Luke as Jace and I slipped into the room he was being held in glamoured. "You want something to drink?"

"I'm good." Luke shook his head and then turned to Jace and I when the door closed. "I thought I told you not to come here."

"You didn't say that, actually." I corrected him. "You told me to tell everyone what happened."

Luke sighed. "If I take the fall for this, this investigation ends with me. If the police keep looking around, there's no telling how many lives could be in danger."

"There is another way, Luke." Jace said.

"We're gonna have Simon encanto the lieutenant." I told him the plan. "Call it all off."

"Simon can't encanto the entire NYPD." Luke pointed out. "You saw what happened with Ollie. I told her about the Shadow World and people died because of it. I'm not going to let that happen again."

I scanned him. "So, you're just gonna take the punishment for someone else's crime? I mean, come on- Luke, you don't deserve that."

"Actually, I do." Luke says. "I left my pack."

"Okay?" I stared. "You had no choice- don't hold that against yourself."

"No, you always have choices, Zee." Luke exclaimed. "If I'd been at the Jade Wolf when the vampires attacked, maybe things would've ended differently."

Jace crossed his arms. "Yeah, maybe we would have lost you, too."

"You can't blame yourself for what happened to the pack." I put my hands on my hips. "You can't let it convince you that this is what you need to do- this isn't going to change anything."

Luke looked down, his voice lowering. "They trusted me and I abandoned them."

-

"Need a sparring partner?" Aline Penhallow's voice filled my ears from behind, my head turning away from the punching bag and to her, as she walked into the training room with a seraph blade in hand.

"Aline." I greeted her with a small smile and pulled out my kindjals as an acceptance. "I didn't know you were in town-"

"I just arrived a little while ago." Aline walked toward me, before she swinging her blade at me.

I blocked her swing with both kindjals. "Are you here on assignment? Maybe I could help-"

"Good thing you offered." Aline said. "I heard your brother was in New York. I was hoping you might be able to help me track him down."

"Oh." My tone dropped slightly, dodging a swing of hers. "I don't know where he is- or where even could be. If I had any idea, I'd be out there right now-"

"You wrote in your report that you're looking for a sword called the Morning Star." Aline kicked me back aggressively, catching me slightly off guard.

"Yeah, he calls it a family relic." I grunted. "He somehow got it in that twisted head of his that I'm gonna help him find it."

"Are you?" Aline's blade came in contact with mine, so hard that I felt my arms shake slightly.

I held my ground. "Am I what?"

"Gonna help him?" Aline questioned.

My jaw clenched. "What're you doing?"

Aline doesn't answer and instead pushes into the blade, knocking me off my feet. "Is it really that hard to recognize your own brother?"

"I was stalling for backup." I pushed myself onto my feet and knocked her blade out of her hand.

Aline landed one on me. "Except when they got there, you let him go."

"I didn't." I threw my kindjals aside and began with hand to hand combat, grunts leaving our lips as we did our best to knock the wind out of the other.

Then, she did knock it out of me. "That hurt? Good- I want Jonathan to feel it."

My jaw clenched and my blood boiled as I pushed myself off the ground and threw myself at her, tackling her to the floor.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

I couldn't stop.

Even when I heard her grunts and protests, I only clenched my fist more and punched her harder.

I could hear nothing.

I could comprehend nothing but the fact that I wanted to hurt her.

And I almost took it too far, but then I heard Jace's shouts. "Zee, hey!-"

Then he was prying me off her, and I was trying to process what had just happened. "Zee, what're you doing?"

"Aline." I breathed out, my eyes widening immediately. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry- I didn't- that- I'm so sorry-"

Jace looked at Aline. "You all right?"

"Do I look all right?" Aline snipped and wiped blood from her mouth, coughing a bit.

"I'm sorry- I-" I stammered, looking between my hands and her, stumbling back a bit.

"Zee-" Jace reached for me. "Hey-"

"Don't touch me-" I blurted out abruptly, stumbling back more. "I just- I need some air."

Jace took a step. "Then I'm coming with you."

"Please!" I almost shrieked in panic and backed away quickly, then turned, running out of the training room. "Just leave me alone-"

-

[ third person pov ]

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" Jace asked Aline, chasing after her when he caught sight of her in the hall.

"Nothing an iratze couldn't fix." Aline faced him with a huff. "Although, I just got this shirt."

"Look, I'll send it downstairs- I'll get it cleaned." Jace offered. "Or better yet, I'll buy you a new one."

Aline stared at him. "If you're being nice to me so I won't report this, it's not gonna work."

"Aline, come on, please." Jace pressed instantly. "She's been through a lot- she's been in her head-"

"Jace, what she did out there, it wasn't normal." Aline shot at him. "There's something seriously wrong with her."

"She's under an enormous amount of stress, it's taking a toll on her." Jace maintained his ground. "The last thing she needs right now is for word to get out that she beat up the Consul's daughter."

"She didn't beat me up." Aline made a face and looked away, mumbling. "I was mostly winning until the end."

Jace almost laughed. "Yeah, sure."

"If she didn't save my mom's life, I'd have her arrested." Aline gave in. "But I swear to the Angel, if she does anything like that again-"

"She won't. I promise." Jace assured her immediately. "All she needs is a little time to get her head straight."

Aline inhaled. "I hope you're right."

-

[ zee's pov ]

"Beautiful night, isn't it?" Jonathan Morgenstern's voice filled my ears from behind me, my heart dropping down to the floor and if anything, into the water at the Waterfront.

I turned instantly, on completely high alert. "What the hell are you doing here? How the hell did you find me?-"

"Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing." Jonathan started to approach me slowly. "I find it hard to believe that our meeting here is a pure coincidence."

I scoffed. "Oh, really?"

"I had no intention of stopping here tonight. I have my own business to take care of, and yet, as I was walking by, I felt a sudden urge to stop- and here you are." Jonathan came closer. "You must've felt it, too. It seems that our rune has brought us together."

"Stop-" I tensed.

"I was worried about you earlier." Jonathan didn't stop. "Whoever you were fighting, they must've gotten in a few good shots, didn't they?"

"You come any closer, I will call the Institute." I put my hand over my phone. "Or Jace- I'm sure he'd like payback for you ambushing him yesterday-"

"Shouldn't you have done that already?" Jonathan thought out loud. "Or are you enjoying this conversation as much as I am?"

"Shut up." I grimaced and stared up at him. "You don't know anything- and god, you make me sick-"

"And yet, we're destined to be together." Jonathan scanned me. "Our meeting here tonight proves it."

"You're out of your mind." I took a step. "This isn't destiny- it's not fate, it hasn't got a thing to do with the universe- it's a rune. A rune I'm desperately trying to get off-"

"You love me, Zee. I can feel it." Jonathan says. "It's why you let me go yesterday and why you won't turn me in now."

I scoffed and shook my head.

"Come with me." Jonathan offered. "I know a part of you wants to."

I stood still. "No."

"That'll be the answer for now." Jonathan took a few steps back. "I've got that appointment to keep."

-

I sat in my room, alone, staring at the small vial in my hands that Magnus had given me.

"It's an elixir." He had told me. "To reverse the properties of what you were given by Lilith and Jonathan. It'll give you your parabatai connection back-"

I wanted to drink it.

But, I couldn't get myself to.

I didn't know why.

My gaze slowly moved from the vial up to my fireplace, watching the flames dance for a moment.

Then I set the vial down and got up, heading over and crouching in front of the fire place.

I continued to stare.

Until I reached and held my palm right over the flames.

And let it burn me.

I watched in astonishment how it burned my skin, how badly scorched and red my skin had become and how long I was enduring it.

Then, I heard a shout. "Zee, hey!-"

It was Jace, shouting at me as he pulled me away from the fireplace as quickly as possible and pulled me back to the bed.

That was when I felt the pain.

A groan left my lips, holding my shaking palm as he quickly grabbed out his stele and ran it over my Iratze; healing it.

Jace touched my healed palm. "What were you thinking?-"

"I- I don't know." I stammered.

Then, Jace's eyes fell onto the rune, making me finally notice the slight stinging and that it was glowing.

I looked over at the elixir.

The rune was why.

"We need to get you to the Silent Brothers." Jace's tone was filled with worry and concern. "Right now."

I only nodded, before grabbing the elixir, unscrewing the top and downing it.

authors note:

they're literally so cute, i- jace feeding her because she isn't eating? AW

just jace herondale everyone- perfect man

but, thank you for 57k !!!

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