𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐞

The only sound that could be heard through the Institute were their running steps as they rushed to the Infirmary. Soon, Alec had been put in a white-sheeted bed and Hodge was already bent over him, doing everything in his power to get the boy to wake up. Isabelle and Aria remained with him, getting the man everything he could possibly need, but Jace preferred to stay outside. Aia had to fight the urge to go and join him, to make sure that he was okay, but she knew better than that. She had loved enough fights to know that Jace preferred to be alone, even though she knew he was probably blaming himself for every single scratch they had received. She had barely noticed it herself before, probably due to the adrenaline, but her own arm was bleeding profusely.

Hodge was just as nervous as they were. Nothing of what he was doing was working and they knew that what had happened to Alec was outside of their possibilities. There was only a group of people that could help them.

Aria nodded when Hodge asked her to go tell Jace what was happening. She opened the doors to the Infirmary and had to clear her throat to get the attention of the boy. He was standing there, with Clary, close enough for them to kiss (or have kissed already). In normal circumstances, she would either send them a retort or let herself feel angry at the sight but, at that moment, her mind was only on Alec.

"Is he okay?" Jace approached her, his voice soft.

"Nothing of what Hodge is doing works. He's going to contact the Silent brothers, although we don't know when they will get here."

"I know they come at their own discretion but for this— he might die otherwise."

"He might," Aria answered, her voice breaking in the process. It was gut-wrenching having to pronounce such words but that was their life. They could die at any moment, irrespective of their age, and they had learnt to accept it, some way or another.

Hodge got out of the Infirmary and walked to the Library, Jace and Clary following behind. Aria, on the other hand, walked back into the room. Isabelle was sitting on her brother's bed, his hand on hers and her eyes closed. As soon as she heard the doors open, however, she looked back up.

"He'll be okay," Aria whispered, hugging her. "The Silent Brothers can cure anything."

"I just— What was he thinking? Why would he do that? He's never done that before," Isabelle spoke. She was trying hard not to cry but she did not accomplish it. She broke out in sobs as Aria stroked her hair.

"Do you remember what Alec told us when we were younger and we were crying over a game?"

Isabelle let out a choked laugh, "that crying was wasting all the milkshakes we had drunk that day."

"Don't let the milkshakes go to waste, he would have an aneurysm. Especially because he pays them all," Aria tried to cheer her up. Both girls stayed there, Isabelle's hand still gripping Alec's as they waited for Hodge to return and tell them that the Silent Brothers were on their way.

━━━━━━━━

While they waited for someone to come and update them, both girls had fallen asleep, one on top of the other in Alec's bed. When Aria opened her eyes, it was already dark outside and her neck was killing her from the awful position she had ended up in. She took a look out the window and, letting Isabelle sleep a bit more, got out of the Infirmary.

The Institute was silent, almost eerily so, but she did not mind it. The building was so big that it was almost impossible to hear if anyone was there at all. She walked to the Library, but found it completely deserted. That set her on edge, since Hodge rarely left it, let alone left it in such a state. She called for him but the only thing she heard in return was her own voice echoing along the walls.

Turning around, she almost ran to Jace's room, which was as clean as always, no one in there. With her nerves already acting up and her heart speeding, she looked in every single room in the Institute but there was nobody there.

"Isabelle!" she yelled as she ran back to the Infirmary. "Isabelle wake up, Hodge, Jace and Clary are missing."

"What?" she mumbled.

"They are missing. There's nobody in the Institute and the library is full of a black substance and I don't—"

"What do you mean they are missing?"

"What do you think I mean!? I mean they are missing, they are nowhere to be found," she raised her voice. "And there is no note, no anything."

At that moment, as Isabelle let go of Alec's hand for the first time in hours, the bell sounded, telling them that there was somebody at the door that wanted to talk to them, somebody that was not a shadowhunter.

"I'll go look over the Institute again, you open the door."

Aria nodded and, trying to calm herself, walked to the big doors that gave access to the Institute. In retrospect, she should have considered asking who it was before opening them, but her mind was completely elsewhere. Much to her relief, there stood Magnus Bane, the warlock whose party they had attended some days prior.

    "Hello, little Shadowhunter. I heard about your adventure with the Greater Demon."

    Aria did not even stop to consider how in the world could Magnus have learnt about the fight, she simply nodded and gestured for him to come in. The man seemed completely unimpressed by the grandeur of the Institute, probably because his own private house was as spectacular as it was.

    "I heard about your friend, Alec, right? Have you been able to wake him up?"

    "No," Aria replied, her voice trembling. "No, we haven't. Hodge said he was going to call the Silent Brothers, they are able to cure anything, but he is not here and neither are Jace and Clary and I don't know where they went..."

    Magnus stopped her rambling by putting an arm on her shoulder. She turned to look at him, expecting to find his usual smirk, but instead found a look of compassion as he told her to take him to where Alec was. As for the rest of them, there was not much they could do but wait for their return.

    Aria walked Magnus to the Infirmary, where he approached Alec's bed with a sad smile on his face. He asked her to please leave him alone with him as he tried something he thought could work. On normal circumstances, Aria would refuse to let Alec alone with a warlock but her mind was far away and she decided to go looking for Isabelle, whom she found in the training room.

    "I just... I thought Jace could be up here. You know how he chastises himself after a fight goes wrong," the black-haired girl explained while Aria took a seat beside her in one of the beams.

    "I know. Magnus is here, he says he can help Alec," she whispered, seeing a faint smile appear on Isabelle's face. "Do you think maybe Clary is with Simon? Maybe she knows where Jace is..."

    Isabelle nodded. "Could be. Do you have Simon's phone number?"

    "He gave it to me in case anything happened. It's in my room."

    Isabelle took Aria's hand and they both jumped from the beam and walked to the latter's bedroom, hands still tangled. It was normal for them to walk hand in hand, it was a habit they had picked up over the years, but, at that moment, it meant much more. It meant that they were there for each other during whatever was happening around them, irrespective of what it was.

    Aria found Simon's number written in messy handwriting in a crumpled paper in her bedside table and, taking her phone, which she rarely ever used because she had no one to call, typed the number in and pressed the green button.

    "Hello?" a male voice answered.

    "Simon," Aria began. "It's Aria, Isabelle's here with me. We were... we... is Clary there with you?"

    "No, she's not. She's at the Institute, I left her there as well. Is something wrong? Has something happened?"

    "She is not here and neither is Jace nor Hodge. I mean, if they are with Hodge I wouldn't worry too much but... well, they left without saying anything and we just wanted to know if they were with you."

    "Shit, how could you lose her? Honestly, are all Shadowhunters as careless as you lot?" he muttered, his voice now faraway.

    "Hey, there's no need to be rude," Isabelle intervened. "We're all worried enough for you to come and behave like an asshole."

    "Just– I'll be there in fifteen, okay?" Before they could reply that it would be useless for him to come, he had already hung up and all they could do was for him to ring the bell. In the meantime, they returned to the Infirmary.

    Magnus's forehead was glistening with sweat but Alec's colour had returned to his face. Magnus was muttering all sorts of words while he moved his hand over Alec's body, barely touching him. Both girls, not wanting to interrupt, walked in and silently sat on a bed, carefully watching him work.

    Not even ten minutes had passed that the bell to the Institute rang again, signalling that Simon had arrived already. Aria let Isabelle stay with her brother and Magnus and walked out of the room once more to open the doors. There stood Simon, a grey hoodie and black jeans on, dark bags under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in days.

    "What the fuck is going on, Aria?" he spoke. It almost startled Aria, hearing her name coming out of his mouth. Her friendship with Simon had been unusual to say the least and, after everything that had happened, she wasn't really sure of how to act around him.

    "I don't know," she replied as Simon walked into the Institute and got in the elevator. "Isabelle and I fell asleep in the Infirmary and when I woke up and went looking for Hodge, he wasn't anywhere to be found. I'd assume he's with Jace and Clary."

    "Where could they be?"

    Luckily, the elevator was big enough for them to stay one in front of the other without touching.

    "I don't know. Hodge said he was going to call for the Silent Brothers to try and wake up Alec but Magnus is with him now and he seems to be making progress."

    Both of them remained silent for some minutes, unsure of what to say. The elevator arrived at their chosen floor and the two of them stepped outside.

    "Hey," Aria muttered, making Simon stop on his tracks. "I'm sorry."

    "What for?"

    "For turning you into a rat. And then dragging you into the mess that is the Shadowhunter world, I guess." Aria reached for her ring, which rested on her right middle finger, as always.

    "You didn't turn me into a rat, I just didn't give you time to warn me. As for dragging me into this mess, I don't think you should be the one to apologise for that," he replied, his voice as deep as always. That was something that surprised Aria about Simon. Seeing him and how he acted, one would say that his pitch would be higher, but it was actually quite low.

    "I guess I'm just sorry for how things turned out."

    "For what it's worth, I was having an awesome time at that party with you."

    Aria did not know how to answer that. She had had a good time as well, until they had to run out of Magnus's house because Simon had got lost, but so many things had happened in between one event and the present time that the party seemed like some sort of a dream. Instead of replying, she simply nodded and walked with Simon to the kitchen, claiming that neither she nor Isabelle had eaten anything since the battle and that Magnus probably needed some fuel as well. Aria offered to make some noodles for him as well but Simon kindly refused and helped her cook.

    If you had asked the Aria of a few months back, she would have said that that was all she wanted. To have a quiet day for a change, to cook while laughing and talking about everything and anything as she was doing with Simon now. The boy seemed to have become much more confident around her ever since they met for the first time. However, she was cooking out of pure necessity and just for the sake of not turning mad at not knowing where her mentor and Jace and Clary were.

    With Simon's help, Aria brought three bowls of noodles and drinks to the Infirmary, where Magnus was sitting beside Isabelle. Alec looked, if not completely well, at least much better, which made Aria release a relieved sigh.

    "Thanks the Angel," Isabelle exclaimed as soon as Aria handed her her bowl, "I was starving."

    The four of them sat in a circle, Magnus looking at Alec in case anything went wrong and he needed to spring into action, and ate their dinner. None of them let the conversation die; they began telling one funny story after the other, each of their own world, maybe to keep themselves busy and maybe because they really needed a laugh. Hours after they had finished eating, Isabelle had decided to go take a shower, leaving Alec under Magnus's care, and Aria and Simon were sitting together, the former's head on the boy's shoulder as he caressed her arm and whispered to her about the ideas he had had for his band's name.