perfection

like for a starter from fem!alec or fem!magnus after tonight’s ep

“ i have tried to be BOTH the flying kite and the hand that holds the string. ”

          “Clary.” She grabs the redhead’s arm perhaps a little too abruptly despite meaning well and takes her aside. She’s never quite sure how to talk to the girl, especially after all that has happened, but Magna has convinced her that she needed to say something. Even now she can’t even look the girl in the eyes. 

          “I- I really am sorry.” She clears her throat a bit. God, she’s not good at this. Her gaze falters and voice softens.“About your mom.” She thought she’d feel better after this, but she still can’t keep her gaze.          

         “It wasn’t your fault, you didn’t know.” Isabelle whispers. Her eyes flutter shut and she lets herself melt into the hug, so glad to have someone there to just hold her. Her big sister always knows what to do to fix everything. Whether it was a broke heart of broken limb, Izzy has had Alec there every time and she trusts that she’ll fix this too. 

         “I need a stele, Alec. I lost mine and I don’t know how many times I was bitten or how much blood I’ve lost. Please.” ”

          “I’m your big sister. I should have.” She keeps Izzy close and purses her lips trying to hold back her disappointment in herself. This is why she always buried herself in Shadowhunter work. They aren’t supposed to let their emotions get in the way. It’s dangerous work. She knew that. 

          “What the hell happened to you, Izzy?” She wants to ask more. She’s barely even patient enough to hear an answer, but she is quickly interrupted by Izzy speaking once more. ‘I need a stele, Alec. I lost mine and I don’t know how many times I was bitten or how much blood I’ve lost. Please.’

         She pulls out her stele and starts to activate Izzy’s healing rune. 

         She isn’t entirely sure where she is - all she knows is that her head is light and fuzzy (  a telltale sign of more extreme bloodloss ) and all the bites littering her arms, leg, and sides are aching. She’d gotten what she wanted from the vampires but they’d been too enthusiastic and she’d just barely managed to get away, losing her phone and stele in the process. The steps looming in front of  her look like the ones in front of the Institute and so she heaves herself up them, blood splattering wetly onto the stone steps when a familiar voice calls for her. 

         “… Alec? It was… there were vampires, and I - ”

       She should have known. Izzy has been distant lately, barely poking her nose in Alec’s business and last time she’d seen her sister, Izzy had not looked good. She had dark circles under her eyes, she was glistening, but Alec had been too busy being a fool for Magna. Crap. Some older sister. She should have gone on that mission with her. They always do things together. God. She shuts her eyes briefly in shame and pulls Izzy close in that all consuming hug she likes to give her. 

          She can’t stop smiling from the night before. It’s all so new and she's not even sure if she was that good, but she almost doesn’t care. She’s never felt like this before. She’s grinning from ear to ear and she can’t wait to tell Izzy all about it, but then it all shatters. Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Izzy struggling back into the Institute completely marred and she runs to her side. 

          “Oh my god, Izzy. Oh my god. What the hell happened?”

“Yeah, I dunno but it just makes people grow up in different places and different ways. Makes us all pretty unique though so nothing wrong with it.”

“It was supposed to be a creative take on a dragon via jokes on the thing with people I grew up with in an orphanage.”

          Getting lost in her work was something Clary did frequently; admittedly, it was an escape from life —- both of the mundane and supernatural fight club variety. She jumped, turned, pencil still balanced between her fingers.

           “ Excuse me? ”

Fang blinked and found herself fathoming the idea of what the man had just said about her ink. Of all of the things she had heard over the years, that one took the cake. “It’s not really what it’s supposed to be but okay. I guess it can be thought of that way.”

          “I like your tattoo,” Trix said, with a childish grin. “It looks like the green, one-eyed, ball man from Monsters, Inc had sex with the evil, purple scaly one.”

      “Ya gonna get somethin’ or are ya gonna keep lurkin’ over there?” 

        “You should add some blue to that,” whispered over the other’s shoulder as she passed, stealing a glance at their latest art project.