there's something magic about you; something so tragic about you

#they love each other’s touch

    rybka. she was so gentle, so kind. always had been. he didn’t deserve a mother like her. he deserved the one he’d been born with - a deceitful snake that only hurt people. like mother like son. “it’s aerin-” he says, his voice low, as her hands clasp his. “the clave ordered me to watch her. they’re going to use her, lia. they’re going to find a way to use her to hurt the queen. and she doesn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of this but i don’t know how i can get her out. how am i supposed to protect her when it’s my fault she’s in this mess ??” it was his life, trapped behind bars, or hers - and he’d made a choice. one that now he wished he could take back. “please, mom. help me keep her safe.”

the name of the youngest seelie princess made natalia raise a brow, but she kept quiet, knowing all too well to give him his space to talk without hurring him or judging, squeezing his hand in a comforting manner. as he kept going there was no hiding the hint of shock from her eyes, she could have come up with thousand possibilities on what was happening but that? that would have never been one of those. but it wasn’t hard to notice the desperation behind luca’s words and it broke her heart to see him like that. “that’s…a lot. but-” she let out a small sigh, eyes searching for his. “it’s no one’s fault but the clave’s. i know you wouldn’t have done it in any other situation.” a sad smile gracing her features as if he had to ask. “we are going to keep her safe. i promise you. she can stay with me, hide at my place since i’m not really on the clave’s radar and my place.”

          taking residence in quill and elena’s house is not exactly ideal. they’re hospitable hosts, generous and luca will always be grateful for that. but they’re also newlyweds - war or not, they’ll want their own space. the last thing they need is half the institute tripping over each others feet. still, it’s the best of a bad situation and at least it means he can keep an eye on all his siblings.

         hearing the sound of a dummy being pummelled, the shadowhunter turns the corner to the training room. he leans against the doorway, watching his sister make easy work of the moves they’ve been learning since they were kids. “you know, it’s not polite to mock your victims.” luca snorts, shaking his head at her.

Her sour expression softens at the sight of her brother leaning against the doorway, watching her work out her latest frustrations on the helpless dummy in front of her. It seems there’s many things frustrating her lately; from feeling completely helpless in the war against Leo Wallace, to learning her mother was actually a mundane and the woman she believed was her mother all of her life was the one that killed her. It’s hard to say whose face she’s picturing instead of the dummy’s when she hurled the battle axe through the air — her duplicitous father for never telling her the truth, the blood thirsty seelie who killed the mother she’ll never get to know, the traitorous nephilim who cast a spell over her brother, turning him against his friends and family or their damn weapon instructor who constantly chided her choice of weapon.

❝ I’m not feeling terribly polite today. ❞ Dawn huffed, pulling the axe free from the dummy’s chest and twirling it around in an idle manner as she moseyed on back to her original mark on the training mat. Dawn tested the weight of the axe in the palm of her hand again, hazel coloured hues narrowing on the dummy as she swung and slashed her axe through the air, moving swiftly across the mats as she demonstrated her skills with the weapon before finally burying it deep into the dummy’s chest once more.

        "you say that like you're polite most days." he teases, moving further into the room. her aim is good, she knows her weapon in detail - knows how to move with its weight. in another life, his sister might have been a high ranking shadowhunter. but instead, his father's decisions tarred them both. "come on-" he murmurs, placing a hand on her shoulder to still her. "enough anger management. let's get a drink." he nods his head back towards the way he's just come, to the kitchen where a wealthy wallace keeps things well stocked.

     he had never lost touch with lia, despite stretches of months apart he would always reunite with her. so the distance that had fallen between amara and lia had surprised him. but then, their relationship had always been different to his - he needed lia. amara had just been happy to be around her. it only made sense that she’d grow up and forget about her almost imaginary friend. but now, things had changed - he saw it on her face every time the mermaid was mentioned. “here-” he fishes out a tiny shell from his pocket. he has countless ones, always loose in his jackets, around his room. “throw it in the water. she’ll come.”

         he had spent so much of his life ignoring, burying, the seelie characteristics he carries in his blood. yet now, they would finally be of use to him. now he needed them. it was that part of him that found its link with the bracelet in his hand; not the shadowhunter. something in his bones that found kinship with the magic in the metal. “this way-” he nods, feeling it drag him towards the front steps.

     he hadn’t actually done anything. so why did it feel worse ?? as if deceit was more awful than action. “they gave me orders.” luca says slowly, teeth gritted. “and i…i said yes because they gave me my life back.” ocean eyes meet elena’s, guilt twisting his stomach in knots. “but i can’t do it anymore. i can’t keep pretending it’s okay when it’s not.” he lets out an exhausted sigh. “they’ve had me watching aerin, the seelie queen’s daughter. making her trust me so that they can…so that if the queen steps out of line they can…” he can’t bring himself to finish his sentence. the sentiment is enough. aerin has faith in him and that faith could get her imprisoned. or worse.

❝ Maybe next time, ❞ Dawn whispered to the battle axe, hanging it back up on the wall. What did they know anyway, she could be just as deadly with a shuriken as she could a battle axe. As if they were standing in the weapons room with her, watching her with a disapproving look in their eye, she picked a shuriken up from the weapons chest, letting it fly home. The shuriken buried itself into the shoulder of the training dummy, and Dawn couldn’t help the grin that spread across her lips. Try swinging your dumb, old heavy axe now, she thought, doing what any other respectable Shadowhunter would have done and stuck her tongue out at the training dummy.

         hearing the sound of a dummy being pummelled, the shadowhunter turns the corner to the training room. he leans against the doorway, watching his sister make easy work of the moves they've been learning since they were kids. "you know, it's not polite to mock your victims." luca snorts, shaking his head at her.

          part of him wants to recoil; to lash out. a week ?? he’s known a whole damn week. but…did that really change anything ?? everything that leo had done besides taking over the damn institute had already been done. could lukas have really stopped that ?? “so what now ??” luca says flatly, teeth gnawing on the inside of his cheek.

there were a lot of different reactions lukas was expecting, especially seeing how things went with some of his other friends, how things went with jason. but he wasn’t expecting that. “i don’t know. i didn’t know before and i have no idea now.” he shook his head. “i just don’t want more people to get hurt.”

       he resists the urge to give her a scathing look ( as if robbing aerin’s sister would really benefit him in any way ) and nods down the hall. taking the lead, he lets the tether of the bracelet guide him, feeling the pull of its connection to the other seelie. “you’ll get your bracelet back. it’s not really my style.” he snorts, unable to help himself.

         especially after what happened to ligeia. it’s an unspoken fact between them that Natalia has already lost one sibling; the mermaid royals will let hell reign before anything happens to another. her vehemence is so strong that she actually smiles and despite the odds he finds himself relieved. sometimes he forgets truly how long she has lived; only really knowing her in the tiny frame of his own life. still his relief disappears at her words, gaze dropping to the ground. if she knew what he’d agreed to, if she knew about his deal…would she still think he knows the right thing to do ?? “lia I did something-” his teeth graze his bottom lip and he finds himself unable to meet her eyes. “and I don’t know how to fix it.”

she noticed the change in his expression, worry clouding her own as her gaze studied his face, trying to figure out what was wrong or what could have been done to get such reaction out of him when she didn’t remember a time that he had to look elsewhere to speak to her as if he was ashamed of himself. “hey, rybka .” her voice was soft, almost a whisper as she reached for one of his hands, taking it between her own two and gently squeezing it. “what did you do? i’m sure it’s not that bad.” maybe it was her constant optimism or maybe it was just her not believing that the person in front of her could have been able to do something terrible. “but whatever it is, we can fix it. it’s eating you alive, i won’t let you deal with it alone.”

       brother. that was still an adjustment to hear - but one of the good kind. a soft smile stretches across his lips at her hand on his arm, grateful for the attempt at reassurance. they were both lost, both trying to figure out the right thing, but they had each other. “it’s not just cassie’s brother.” he murmurs, gaze ducking from hers. “it doesn’t matter how innocent a person is if they’re close enough to power to be useful.“ 

          he meets her commentary with a forced smile, polite if clearly uncomfortable and accepts the offered bracelet. it’s familiar, just like the one he’s seen looped around aerin’s wrist. and at the touch, he can feel the magic in it - perhaps some buried inkling of his seelie blood that recognises its own. holding it in a closed fist, he pulls his stele from his pocket and draws the tracking rune. it takes a moment, the connection faint at first. and then he feels a warmth around him, there’s a smell of wildflowers, and he knows which direction to go. “you coming ??” luca nods to the princess.

      he’s about to respond, to make a half-hearted joke about the current situation. but any humour dies on his lips. “you knew ??” he shouldn’t be surprised. lukas is leo’s son, why wouldn’t he know ?? but…there was too much that had happened, too much that surely lukas wouldn’t have stood for. the attacks, the storm, even…what had happened to him. to elena. “for how long ??”

the blond simply gave a nod at his first question, he wasn’t one to deny the truth especially not when it seemed like everyone already decided to drawn their own conclusions. “since last week.” he commented, almost feeling like a broken record but he knew he deserved to know. “before then i didn’t know, i wasn’t sure.”

       he can’t blame her for being worried about her husband - especially not given the suspicion that will have fallen upon him. but quill is no mundane, he is capable of taking care of himself. “hey-” he squeezes her shoulder gently, ocean eyes holding hers. “I’m with you, whatever you need. we’re in this together. the clave…look i don’t trust them. i don’t know that i ever will again. but maybe they’re the lesser of two evils right now.”