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This Guilty Blood

The feeling of impending doom was crushing. Just as they finally thought that they had beaten their gravest enemy, he had undermined them again. It was as if the forces of the universe were physically acting against them. It was a wake-up call for all of them. Denying them peace and denting their hope. There was five of them against him and still, he came out victorious. What chance did they have?

Arya sighed, rummaging through Jace's room for the last thing he might have worn, something that he still had a connection with for Magnus to use. It was hard, she couldn't lie. Going through his stuff made her gut wrench. She knew that the day he had been taken, she should've listened to her instincts. It was like a faint whispering in the back of her mind that got louder and louder the longer the day had gotten. And the worse thing was that it still hadn't stopped. The whispering. It was just as loud and just as persistent as before.

The brunette decided that she had to remove herself from Jace's room once she finally spotted something she could use—grabbing a jacket from his closet and an old seraph blade from beside his bed. It tormented her when she picked it up since she remembered the first time they both duelled against one another with their new blades.

"That's cheating," Jace grumbled, closing his seraph blade and walking over to the shelving at the side where he placed it once Arya had finally made him surrender with a seraph blade to his back.

"Don't be bitter." Arya teased, doing the same thing.

"I'm not bitter, you cheated." The blonde scoffed with the same expression he held when she and Izzy would gang up against him and Alec in uno—or anything.

"How did I cheat?" She scoffed, pulling her jacket back on, the coldness of the room finally hitting her now they stopped moving.

"That flip. You can't do flips in combat. That's cheating." He insisted—although they both knew that he was just a sore loser.

"That flip was not cheating. It's something called talent, JJ." She smirked, completely aware that she was winding him up. He scoffed in reply and folded his arms. "Stop sulking." She whined when she saw the pout and the scowl on his features.

"Izzy and Alec would agree with me." He grumbled in a huff.

"Yeh, we'll we're not training with Izzy and Alec." The brunette sighed.

"Yeh, only because all you and Alec do is flirt and he goes easy on you cos he doesn't want to hurt you. And you and Izzy are constantly distracted." He insisted making Arya blush slightly.

"Or is it because last time we all trained together, you started an argument, accusing me and Izzy of cheating in the last Uno game we played," Arya suggested and Jace smirked for a split second.

"That was Alec too. And you know you did." He insisted causing the brunette to shrug.

"You're just a sore loser." Arya grinned as she ran away from Jace who chased after her trying to start another duel with the seraph blade he had quickly grabbed.

They were only eleven years old at the time and while their conversation would have appeared cool to other people, the pair knew it was only banter. They had always been the same way. Arya would be a tease and Jace would argue in return. They squabbled like the siblings that they were.

Snapping herself from admitting her thoughts, Arya sighed and walked out of the blonde boy's room and back to the table where Alec, Isabel, Magnus and Lydia stood. "Will these work?" She hoped, passing the objects over to Magnus who ran his fingertips across both before starting a tracking spell.

She brunette tapped her fingertips against the glossy surface as she waited for him to finish. A hue of blue escaped the warlock's hands and masked them around the cloth of the grey jacket. Arya absentmindedly chewed at her lip as they waited for the result, only vaguely hearing the conversation between Izzy and Lydia—who had returned—nor the blueprint which now resided on the table behind her.

"Anything?" Alec asked impatiently, mirroring the exact stress that his girlfriend was feeling in her gut.

"Sorry." Magnus sighed when the results were unclear to him. He gave Alec a weary look, the man wished that he could help them—he had no clue how it felt to lose a sibling—but it was clear to see that none of them was in a good state of mind. "I don't see him." He insisted when Alec remained hopeful that the tracking would work.

"Alright listen up!" He called out to the whole institute. Isabel and Arya shared a concerned glance for the raven-haired boy who had been the most affected—although that was expected. They had all lost a brother—but Alec had lost a parabatai and the girls could only imagine how it felt to know that his other half was potentially being tormented by Valentine. "I want 24/7 monitoring of the Hudson and East Rivers," Alec demanded. "If you see anything unusual, you come to me first."

"I've got this, Alec." Lydia insisted.

"Then why haven't you found Jace yet?" He snapped harshly in her face. Arya could only think that if he spoke to her that way and with that aggression—no matter the circumstances—she would have slapped him.

"Don't forget who you are talking to. I am still the head of this institute." She snapped back with slightly less aggression.

"And our brother is still missing!"

Arya walked over to the pair, gently placing a hand on Alec's arm."Why don't you just take a break? Me and Izzy can try our parabatai tracking in the meantime." She soothed but he only slightly relaxed after hearing her voice. After all, if anyone could talk Alec down it was her. She was his anchor when all hope seemed lost. And that applies far too perfectly to their current situation.

"Not now, Arya." He snapped slightly, his tone started harsh but when he turned and looked at her he couldn't help but soften it when he spoke her name. Her name.

"Aryas right, and it's not a request. You're dismissed." Lydia contended and the brunette winced at the outcome.

Nothing was going to improve with anyone until they got Jace back.

Isabel headed after him but he yanked his arm for her hold harshly. "Everyone just back off!" He snapped, regretfully when he met the dark brown orbs that were Aryas.

Once he was gone, striding around the corner, Isabel and Arya's eyes met. With a sigh, the brunette plucked Jace's jacket off of the table and held it between her and Isabel's intertwined hands. The pair closed their eyes and with every fibre of their being they tried. They tried to see Jace. His shadow, His face, His location. Anything. But alas it was unsuccessful.

They were starting to lose what little hope they had to begin with.

✧

Arya shivered as she made her way to the roof where she knew Alec would be. The metal steps echoed into the night like a whisper as she climbed them and her long-sleeved top proved to do little to retain any warmth. But when she reached the top and found Alec staring over the edge of the wall, the city lights reflecting in his eyes and the moon providing their only illumination, she ignored the feeling she had.

Her heeled boots finally hit the stone floor rather than the metal stairs and she made her way over to her boyfriend, placing herself in the exact position he was in beside her. His raven hair was tousled from how many times he had run a hand through it and he had a stone-cold look on his face but his eyes were swimming with his thoughts.

"If you're here on behalf of Lydia to lecture me. Don't bother." He grumbled, turning his head away from her.

"I came to check you weren't doing anything stupid." She corrected him.

"Look, I'm sorry how I reacted, but this is Jace, you know." He stressed, his hands holding a harsh grip on the wall that he was leant against. "He's a part of me. Through a rune, we are both physically and emotionally connected. If he dies, a part of me dies, too. And I know he's out there."

"Alec, I know—"

"If this we're Izzy, you would be going out of your mind just like me. And you can't tell me you wouldn't." He continued to argue, although Arya knew that this was just his way of disregarding his pent up anger. "I don't know if he's okay and there's not a damn thing I can do about it." He added, slamming his fist against the rough concrete.

"You're right. If it were Izzy I'd be acting the same. But so would you. Izzy's your sister just as much as Jace is my brother—blood-related or not. So don't keep thinking that this is something only affecting you because it's not. He's as much our family as he is yours." She stressed and Alec couldn't deny that she was perfectly right. But that didn't stop him from feeling alone. He wasn't sure whether it was because his parabatai was missing and that made him feel like a part of him was missing too, or whether it was because he felt isolated—like everyone was dealing with Jace being missing better than he.

"I get that. Trust me, I do. But until Jace is back I'm not going to feel whole again. So I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get him back. And if that means I have to jeopardise our rune and myself then so be it." He started firmly in return and as much as Arya didn't want him to cause himself any further pain, she also knew that this was something she wouldn't get him to listen to. She still didn't support the idea but she did understand it.

"Okay. Fine. But if you're doing this then you aren't doing any stupid. If you get even remotely close to death, I will stop it and I don't care what that means for us. I'd rather have you alive and furious than dead." She compromised.

"I'm not—"

"End of Alec. Agree or I'll make sure you can't go through with it. I swear."

"Fine. Deal." He nodded. She placed her hand over his and gave it a small squeeze which he appreciated more than she would know. He flipped his hand over beneath hers and intertwined their fingers. "Lucky it was you who came up here. I was ready to throw anyone else off the roof." He joked to lighten the mood.

She smiled still facing the distance before their moment was broken by their phones. "We have to get to the ops centre, right now." She stressed, the pair sprinting from the roof to the main room of the institute where Alec's mother stood before them all.

"We are at war." She announced with a voice of integrity and leadership. "Valentine now has the mortal cup, with which he is, no doubt, raising a new army...and one of our own has joined him." The woman announced standing tall.

"Looks like the queens taking back her kingdom," Izzy muttered from beside her parabatai her brother beside his girlfriend.

"As a result, the clave has declared a state of emergency at the institute. Their priority is to replace the current leadership, who they have deemed wholly ineffectual." She announced, looking down at Lydia who was amongst the others in the crowd. She scoffed as the worst slipped from Maryse' lips. "It is an honour to introduce the newly appointed head of the New York Institute, Clave representative, Victor Aldertree." She announced, walking down the steps after introducing him so he could walk forwards.

"Did you know about this?" Alec asked both his sister and girlfriend. Arya shook her head.

"No. But maybe this is why dad went back to Idris." The raven-haired girl suggested with a frown etched on her face.

"Maryse went behind my back," Lydia muttered further down their line with an icy glare.

"My fellow shadow hunters." The man greeted in a slight British accent. He was dressed up in a blue suit and matching tie, a few runes poked out from beneath the collar and he stood proudly with his broad shoulders high and his hands clasped in front of him. "It's an honour to be here with you all. We have to find Jace Wayland. He's a shadow hunter and we don't leave our people behind. The answer to his location may very well lie in this room." He spoke out, his eyes lingering on Arya and Isabel when he spoke. "So, I wanna speak with everyone who went on a mission where Jace disappeared." He said, his eyes now lingering on the group before he turned around. "One last thing. Effective immediately, the institute is on lockdown. But it's only temporary. Let's turn this institute around."

The groups around them all started to disperse and amidst the heard of people remained Isabel, Arya and Clary. "Wait, if we're on lockdown, who's out there looking for Jace?" Clary asked, increasingly getting more worried the further the restrictions were put in place. The longer that time went on, the less likely it seemed they would find Jace.

✧

"You wanted to see me?" Arya asked walking into the study where the new head of the institute was waiting to speak to her. His head shot up as soon as she walked in and a smirk grew on his lips.

"Arya." He smiled. She sent him a tight lip smile in return and walked over to the sofa he beaconed her to sit on. Her gaze landed on the phone which stood in a tripod on his desk, facing the exact position she was sitting in. She looked from the camera to the man. He noticed her look and nodded.

"Sorry about the camera, like I told all your friends, it's precautionary." He shrugged and she nodded.

He asked her dozens of questions, none of which were necessary and all of which she was sure was just to get under her skin. And once it was finally over she huffed and walked out of the office.

She made her way down the hall, all the meeting with the new leader did was infuriate her.

"Arya!" Alec called after her, jogging towards her from where he was standing at one of the laptop screens. "Arya!" He called again when she ignored him the first time and made her way to her room instead.

"Not now, Alec." She called back, not looking back to talk to him. Her heeled boots clicked against the linoleum floors, his still close behind her. He rolled his eyes and ran up to her, walking alongside her at the same pace she was walking.

"How did your interview go?" He asked since she had gone in after him.

"Not good. The new leaders a dick and I'm not doing this right now." She continued but Alec was persistent.

"Yeh he wasn't that great in mine either." He agreed and the girl scoffed. "Hey, what is up with you?" He asked concerned for the girl but also curious why she seemed to be so off with him.

"Nothing. I just...I'm worried about Jace, Valentine back causing havoc, I just had the worst ten minutes of my life and I hate the new institute head." She snapped and Alec quickly stopped her with a gently grab of her arm.

"I know. I know. I know and I know. But like you said to me earlier. You're not the only one going through this so you can't keep everything pent up." He told her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and he around her waist. He leant forwards to place a kiss on her lips, although, they were shortly interrupted as the alarm to the institute blared, cutting off all conversations and movements no matter where they were in the building.

The pair ran into the main floor of the institute together and met with Isabel and Clary as they did so. Confusion surrounded them until they spotted the cause for the alarm. A holographic image of Jace was displayed on the controls panel. Above his head were the words 'wanted dead or alive.' Alec and Arya shared concerned looks that were mirrored by Izzy and Clary too.

"Aldertree said he wanted to rescue Jace." Clary frowned in confusion,

"Clary, I said I wanted to find him. And you gave me the clue I needed to do just that." He corrected, appearing as if from thin air to taunt them.

"What did you tell him?" Alec asked her accusingly, turning his attention, for the first time, away from the hologram and to the redhead.

"Alec, I–" She tried to defend but was cut off before she had the chance.

"Is this everyone?" He asked over the sound of everyone talking. "Fantastic." He replied although he got no answer. "First up, all Downworlders are forbidden from entering the Institute without my prior approval. For those still present, good day." He began, turning to look at Luke who was standing with Clary and her mom. "Mr Graymark..." He trailed off.

Luke scoffed. "I'm not leaving Jocelyn. Besides, my badge gives access to resources that you don't have. I can help you find Jace." He insisted.

"That's generous of you, but I'm going to have to insist." He persisted, a hard stare directed at the wolf.

"Call me when you can." Luke turned to Jocelyn, placing a hand on her shoulder,

"Yeah." She nodded and Luke headed to the exit, as Aldertree turned to the vampire now as well.

"You, too... Simon. Simon, right?" He asked, looking at the boy with a paler than human complexion.

Simon looked between the rest of the group. "It's almost dawn. I don't have anywhere to go." He worried, knowing that as soon as he walked into the daylight he would turn into smithereens,

Aldertree shrugged. "Hey, you're a smart guy. I'm sure you'll figure something out." He dismissed, disregarding the boy's life as if it were nothing.

"Simon, come on." Luke beaconed from the place he had stopped towards the exit.

Clary looked over at her best friend with worry written in his features. "I'll be okay." He assured before following after Luke and walking out of the institute.

Aldertree clapped once they had left and turned back to the group of shadowhunters. "Now, let's get to it. I've reviewed your statements, along with the reports of your unsanctioned missions. And I can come to no other conclusion that Jace Wayland is a traitor to the Clave." He concluded.

"Jace is not a traitor." Alec snapped from beside his girlfriend.

"Point of fact. Clary said Jace called to warn you about Valentine's trap, which got me thinking... Jace had multiple chances to kill Valentine and even stopped Arya in one instance, and he chose to let him leave. Now, Valentine, Jace, and the Cup are missing. Do the math." He concluded and they all glared at him as they spoke.

"There is no way we're gonna help you hunt Jace." Arya scoffed, folding her arms over her chest with Alec's hooked around her waist, his fingers tapping on her sides with anxiety and anger.

"And I'd never ask you to. You and your friends are prohibited from any further involvement in the hunt for Jace Wayland." He concluded and the brunette scoffed while Izzy and Clary shared disbelieving looks and Alec glared furiously at the man.

"What?" Isabel snapped.

Aldertree then turned to the rest of the crowd around them. "The rest of you, back to work. I'm lifting the lockdown on the Institute, except for Clary and Jocelyn. Given your relationship with Valentine and Jace, I wanna keep a close eye on you." He said glowering down at the family of two.

"This is ridiculous." Clary scoffed trying to walk away.

"Clary–" Jocelyn reached out and grabbed a hold on her arm.

"No! We cannot just sit