seveninchmotto | The Institute, New York, Sunday

Entry tags:

The Institute, New York, Sunday

All Isabelle had wanted to do was sleep off all of the previous night's woes. So, of course she'd been dragged out of bed in the middle of the night by Clary and Jace who'd absolutely had to tell everyone about the former's realization about where the Mortal Cup was, and how they had to plan to go and get them despite the fact that the search was supposed to be in the hands of the Clave now. Not that Isabelle actually objected. She needed to do something heroic and potentially dangerous to live down the humiliation of last night. Besides, Clary and Jace were right. If the Cup really was with Clary's witch neighbor, the keeper of the Sanctuary, they had a much better chance of getting it from her than the Clave.

But she was still glad that they didn't move out before the actual morning. For one thing, they needed Simon to come drive them, since Jace was not too thrilled with the idea of lugging the Mortal Cup, an immeasurably precious object, back on the L train. So they slept, and they Marked themselves up, and they stuffed themselves and their gear in Simon's friend's neon yellow van. (Yes, really.) And things went fine, for a while. They got to Clary's building, and there were only low levels of demonic energy. Just the Forsaken in Clary's apartment, they guessed, and those wouldn't bother them if they didn't go upstairs. And they didn't. They went to Madame Dorothea's and things kept going fine. Clary got the Tarot deck from Dorothea – a deck her mother had given the witch as a gift – and drew on the Ace of Cups with a stele, and then... reached into the painting on it, and pulled the cup out of it.

And then they got about half a moment of mild astonishment, before they all had to hit the floor, because the witch had opened a portal right behind them, and something was coming out of it. A dark, rushing shape that hurtled through the portal and at Madame Dorothea, twisting around her until she wasn't human anymore, but a monstrous, massive shape. So, they didn't stay and watch. They ran, Isabelle at the front, but the door out of the building was resistant, shut with a spell. And the creature came through the wall after them. Nine feet tall.

"I am Abbadon. I am the Demon of the Abyss. Mine are the empty places between the worlds. Mine is the wind and the howling darkness. I am as unlike those mewling things you call demons as an eagle is unlike a fly. You cannot hope to defeat me. Give me the Cup or die."

A Greater Demon. Isabelle had never met one before. They attempted to fight it, of course. They did their best. Jace with blades, Isabelle with her whip (trying not to tremble). Alec, with his featherstaff – and the demon hurled him against the wall with a sickening crunch. Isabelle wasn't going to forget it. She charged at the demon, but ended up struck to the ground and coughing up blood for her troubles. Alec was still crumpled on the floor, and Clary had to stay back and protect the Cup, and Jace and Isabelle were both injured but still trying, except the odds seemed stacked heavily against them.

Except then the door flew open, and it was Simon. He was crouched on the stairs, and when he reached back over his shoulder, Isabelle realized he had the bow and quiver Alec had left in the car. He shot an arrow, and it flew over Abbadon's head –– and shattered the skylight. Dirty black glass fell, and sunlight streamed in. The demon screamed and staggered back, and it crumpled to the floor. Like all demons, it began to fold in on itself. It crumpled and crumpled until in the span of a minute it had vanished entirely.

Isabelle and Jace rushed to Alec's side. They attempted to Mark him with healing runes, but they didn't take. He'd been clawed, meaning there was demon venom in his veins. They didn't stick around long after that. Everything was a rush of things after that, as far as Isabelle was concerned. Carrying Alec back to the car, speeding back to the Institute to get him to Hodge, carrying him up the steps. Hodge working on Alec in the infirmary while Isabelle looked on, holding a tray of instruments for him and trying not to feel sick.

Time only seemed to slow down once Hodge had done all he could. Alec still looked terrible. He'd been sedated, but... It was beyond Hodge's abilities. He'd called for the Silent Brothers. All Isabelle could do was sit next to Alec's bed and watch him, while Hodge disappeared out the infirmary door to talk to Jace and Clary. And a little after that, Isabelle heard a terrible explosion from the library. She rushed there, but it was empty – apart from everything being strewn on the floor, and there was blood and sticky black goo everywhere and she officially had no clue what was going on anymore. Time sped up again as she tried to scramble around for anyone, but there was no one in the Institute, and no one picking up their phones, either. It was such a relief when Magnus showed up that she didn't even ask why and how he'd known to come there. She just let him usher her out of the room so he could work his magic on Alec. Blue sparks flew out from underneath the door. Isabelle didn't ask about it. All that mattered was that Alec looked much better afterwards, and Magnus assured her he'd be on the mend. And that he'd be waiving his fee. He was also calling around the Downworlder community to find out where the hell Hodge, Clary, and Jace had disappeared. He told Isabelle he'd do what he could, and would also sit with Alec.

So, he also made Isabelle go outside and breathe some fresh air. Apparently she looked like she needed it. And that was when she finally realized she'd been supposed to call Flick in the morning. So, yes. She was doing that now.

[ooc: NFB, tbc in the comments. Summarized from City of Bones.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Flick was still holed up in his hotel, enjoying some truly awful television and something cold to drink. When his phone buzzed, he picked it up and put it to his ear.

"Hey," he greeted. "You okay?"

"No." But, she wasn't drunk and therefore the fact that she was upset was nicely masked by hw tired she sounded. "We fought a Greater Demon, Alec is unconscious, and Hodge and Jace and Clary are all missing."

"Jesus," he breathed, sitting up. "Isabelle, I'm -- I'm sorry. What can I do to help?"

"How soon can you get here?"

That's what he could do to help.

"I'm not that far away," he said, rolling off the bed and reaching for his shoes. "About three blocks away. Maybe twenty minutes at the most."

"Then I'll see you in twenty minutes," Isabelle said, and hung up.

She sat down on the Institute steps.

Flick changed fairly quickly and was out the door of the hotel in about five minutes. He jogged the three blocks towards the Institute and got there in about fifteen minutes.

He saw her on the steps and didn't say anything as he got closer.

Isabelle looked up as he came closer. "Hi."

She looked tired, and she was still in the Shadowhunter gear she'd worn for their excursion to Dorothea's. There was a little bit of dried blood on her shirt.

"Hi," he returned, coming up the stairs to sit next to her. His shoulder pressed against hers and he was quiet for a moment. "How's your brother?"

"He's stable," she said, looking down at her boots. "He'll pull through. Magnus showed up out of the blue and magicked him."

"Were you hurt?" he asked quietly, looking over and noticing that dried blood on her shirt. "Is that your blood?"

Isabelle looked at her shirt, then shrugged. "Yes, and yes," she said. "Took a few hits, coughed up some blood. I'm fine now."

Reassuring!

"Did you heal yourself or are you just saying that?" Flick asked, rubbing his fingers over her shirt. "Do you still hurt?"

"I healed myself," Isabelle told him. After a moment, she amended it with, "Hodge made me."

Because she'd been a little too focused on her brother to do that.

Flick nodded quietly.

"Good." Because he wanted her well and in one piece. He got quiet for a second, looking down at his feet and the stairs.

Isabelle looked straight ahead at the street. She was quiet for a moment. Just watching.

"I don't know where everyone is," she said, "and it's killing me."

"I know," he said, lifting a hand but not sure if she wanted to be touched right now. "I'm here. And I'll stay for as long as you need me to. I'll stay out here. Just so you know I'm here. I'll do anything I can."

Isabelle leaned towards him. Maybe that was hint enough that she wouldn't slap his hand away or anything. "I tried to inform the Clave," she said "And Magnus is calling his contacts. But it's all anyone can do."

And she wanted so badly to charge out and fight something, but she had no idea where to start.

"Then, you're doing all you can," he said, sliding his arm around her shoulders and bringing her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head. "I know it's hard, though, baby. I know."

And she was more action minded then he was so he knew how hard it had to be on her.

"What can I do?"

"I don't know," Isabelle sighed, her frustration pretty evident. She was a little tense. That was unlikely to change for a while. "There's nothing to do."

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, reaching over and kissing her temple. "I'll stay for as long as you need me to stay. I promise."

"Tell me something nice, Flick," Isabelle requested quietly. "Doesn't have to be about me. Something nice. Anything."

To distract her, even for a second.

"Mmm." He rubbed her shoulders with his fingers while he thought about what to tell her. "I remember this one time when Jude and I were kids when he managed to sneak an entire jar of peanut butter out of the pantry and into my room. I was asleep and he actually lathered my hand with peanut butter without me knowing it. I was pretty tired."

Flick smiled at the memory. "He then tossed some pepper on my face which made me have to sneeze. So, I went to cover my mouth even in my sleep and ended up covered in peanut butter. Never heard Jude laugh as hard as he did that day."

Isabelle smiled. There was something sad and tired about it, because she couldn't help it, but she smiled anyway.

"That seems like a waste of peanut butter," she said quietly. "Except not, since it made him laugh."

She knew how important that was.

"It was a pretty good day," Flick told her, nodding. "I didn't mind the peanut butter too much. I still got him back by dumping all his socks into the bathtub but he laughed at that too. And wore wet socks around the house for the rest of the day."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject