seveninchmotto | The Institute, New York, Tuesday

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The Institute, New York, Tuesday

Today was the day.

They were all gathered in the Institute's garden. Clary, Jace, Alec, Magnus. Simon had just arrived, looking like desperately didn't want anyone to think he was exactly as nervous as he had every right to be. The conversation was stilted, and awkward, in the way you could expect it to be when one person in a group couldn't remember the vast majority of his shared history with everyone else, while everyone else could.

And then there was Isabelle.

And Flick.

She'd pulled him aside, a little further from the group. She could feel Alec casting covert glances their way, but she was ignoring it. "Do you have everything?" she asked, like she hadn't already asked that at the apartment.

[ooc: NFB, for the guy, and referencing Tales from Shadowhunter Academy story #1!]

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"Pretty sure I do," Flick said, looking down at the bags at his feet. "If I don't, guess I'll just have to rely on the kindness of strangers."

He smiled at her, trying to ease any sadness she (and he) might be feeling.

Sadness wouldn't have been Isabelle's first choice of words to identify what she was feeling right now. But it would probably had been somewhere in the top ten, yes.

"Oh, then you're screwed," she quipped, trying to reciprocate his smiling with a little joke, there. "Expecting kindness from strangers who are Shadowhunters."

Edited 2015-09-01 16:27 (UTC)

Flick chuckled and looked down at his feet before he peered back at her.

"I think I've got everything I need," he promised, nodding. "So, if I'm screwed, it'll be for other reasons."

"Just don't get screwed the old-fashioned way." If anyone was listening in, they deserved that. "That's my job."

Flick smirked at her, unable to help himself.

"I'm yours," he assured her quietly yet firmly, "and the only person screwing me the old fashioned way is you. It's you forever."

Isabelle reached out to put her hands on his hips.

"Good," she nodded. "Very good. I'm holding you to that, you know."

"Good, you should," Flick said, moving closer to her. "You have nothing to worry about in that department. Absolutely nothing."

He figured she knew that but he wanted to reassure her anyway.

"I'll write you letters as often as I can," he promised. "Since I can't text or call you."

"I'll write to you, too." And she never wrote anyone. Funny how you had to resort to old-fashioned things sometimes. She smiled at him, but she was watching him closely. "And I'll see about coming to visit whenever I can."

"Good," he murmured, sliding his thumb along her cheek and down her jaw. "I'll be okay."

He saw you watching, Isabelle.

"Don't worry, baby," he assured her. "Ain't nothing gonna stop me."

"I'm not worried." She was still going to yank him into a tight embrace right now. "I'm sad about all the hot sex we won't be having."

She was just a little worried.

Flick embraced her tightly, arms around her and cheek nuzzled against hers.

"I'm sad about that too," he murmured, kissing her ear. "We'll make up for it when I come home for visits and finally for good. Until then, you've got all these other guys here to keep you busy, right?"

Isabelle huffed a laugh by his ear. "That sounded a little wrong, baby." She nuzzled his cheek. Rubbed her hands against his back. All kinds of small tokens of affection. "But I know. I know. And I'm proud of what you're doing, Jon."

She kissed his cheek, and whispered the words. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you," he mumbled, eyes closing and breath escaping in a long, low exhale. "I'm nervous."

He didn't mind admitting it to her.

"But, I'm gonna make sure I do whatever I need to do," he promised. "Don't date anyone else while I'm gone."

Using her words from so long ago? Yes, yes he was.

Isabelle recognized them, and reacted with a quiet snort. "I promise," she murmured. "Don't date anyone else while you're gone, either." It had been amply established that he wouldn't, but she said so anyway.

She ran her hand through his hair. "You're going to do fine."

"Any last minute advice for me?" Flick wondered, keeping her close and keeping his eyes closed. "Last minute hints?"

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you're a mundane," she told him after a pause. It felt like the most valuable thing to say. The kind of thing that would take him the furthest. "If they doubt you, tell them to go screw themselves."

Flick nodded seriously. He opened his eyes and looked at her.

"Done and done," he promised. "If I can sway your mother, I can sway anyone."

Isabelle leaned in to kiss him.

That was, of course, when Catarina Loss – the warlock with blue skin who was apparently a key component in these goodbyes – walked around the side of the Institute. "Hello there," she said. "Ready to go?"

"Almost," Simon said, a little too quickly. "Just a second."

Flick didn't say anything because he'd met Isabelle halfway and was currently doing his best to kiss her breathless, make sure she felt his lips for a long, long time.

They could wait a little longer.

Simon was making his awkward goodbyes, anyway. Isabelle wasn't listening, and maybe she'd feel bad about that later, but she was also kissing Flick back while clinging to him, so maybe she wouldn't feel too bad.

She was going to miss him so much.

Flick wasn't sure if he should be saying goodbye to someone other than Isabelle and he wasn't thinking about it either. He had his hands knotted in her shirt and his lips pressed hard against hers.

The missing was going to be mutual. It was not going to be easy to be away from her.

After a moment, Isabelle actually managed to break the kiss.

... For a few seconds, and then she thought better of it and went right back in for it after a few breaths. It was all a little harsh. If they were kissing goodbye like this, she could only guess at what it would be like to kiss him hello once he'd been at the Academy for a while.

After another moment, she pulled back again. "Okay," she sighed.

"Do we really have to stop?" he asked her, frowning and brushing her hair back with his fingers. "Can't I just keep doing that till I get to Idris?"

"I would like that," she told him, cupping his cheek with her hand. "But that's not how this works. It's off to Idris without me, Jon."

"I love you," he said, taking the hand she had on his cheek and kissing the center of her palm. "Take care of my mom for me."

"I will." She nodded, and pulled his hand to her so he could press a kiss over his knuckles. "I promise."

"Mr. Brennan?" Catarina called out.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Flick said, looking at Isabelle intently, memorizing her face. He stepped forward one last time and kissed her forehead.

It was important to do that because he'd be unable to do so for awhile.

"I'll see you soon," he murmured finally letting go of her and reaching for his bags. "Be safe."

"You too," Isabelle murmured. "I'll write to you soon, I promise." That still made her feel like she was suddenly in the 19th century. Not that that thought took up very much of her brain right now. This was altogether too big for that. "I love you."

Catarina was already conjuring up the portal. Simon was hugging Clary, tightly, then gathered his belongings to step up by the warlock's side.

"I love you too."

He gave her one last long look before stepping closer to the portal. He stopped there, letting Simon get his last goodbyes in while he took a deep, long breath to prepare himself for portal travel.

"Wait!"

Isabelle rushed to him. She'd almost forgotten, in her rush of emotion. "Take this." She took his hand, pressed something into his palm. Then closed his hand around it. It was something small and made of metal. "Don't look before you're in Idris. Promise me."

Flick squeezed whatever she'd just put in his hand and looked at her quizzically. He wanted to know what was there but she seemed so serious that he just nodded.

"I promise," he said quietly, nodding. "I won't look till I'm there."

Isabelle didn't want to risk him trying to give it back to her. And this was the easiest way to make sure of hat. She squeezed his hand, then let it go and stepped back and away.

Everything was ready. "After you," Catarina said to Simon and Flick. The former waved awkwardly to the rest of them, then stepped through the portal, and disappeared.

Flick smiled at Isabelle, hand still around whatever she'd given him before he nodded at the rest of the assembled group.

And then, he stepped through the portal and went to Idris.

Catarina followed after him, and the portal swirled closed.

And now, instead of the Institute's garden in New York, they were standing in the lush countryside, on one side a valley and on the other meadows. There was nothing to be seen for miles but different shades of green. There were the jade-green stretches of meadows upon meadows right down to the crystalline dazzle on the horizon that – as Isabelle had told Flick to prepare him – was Alicante, the City of Glass, its towers blazing in the sunlight.

On the other side, there were the emerald depths of a forest, dark green abundance cloaked in shadows. The tops of the trees ruffled in the wind like viridescent feathers.

This was Idris.

Flick brought his free hand up to shade his eyes, not quite used to something so bright, so majestic. It felt stupid and lame to think that but there was no other way to describe it.

He blew out a breath and blinked to adjust his eyes to the brighter lights. He inhaled, smelling forest and pine and greenery.

"Nice place," he said, understating that quite severely. Isabelle's gift was now warm in his hand and he looked down, wondering what she'd given him.

Something precious.

Catarina looked around, then took one step, so she was standing right on the lip of the valley. Simon followed her. In that one step, the shadows of the forest lifted.

Suddenly there were what Simon recognized as training grounds, stretches of clear ground cut into the earth with fences around them, markings indicating where Shadowhunters would run or throw etched so deep in the earth that they could see them from where they stood. At the center of the grounds and in the very heart of the forest, the jewel to which all the rest was background setting, was a tall gray building with towers and spires. The Academy had a stained-glass window set in its very center. In the window, darkened with age and years, an angel wielding a sword could still be seen, celestial and fierce.

"Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy," said Catarina Loss, her voice gentle.

And in Flick's hand was a delicate silver chain, and on it, a silver ring. There was a pattern of flames around the band of it, and a carved L in the center. It was usually found on his girlfriend's right hand.

Her family ring, with the emblem of the Lightwoods.

Flick was behind Simon and when things started to change, he blew out a long breath. He stopped though to finally open his hand and see what Isabelle had given him. When he realized what it was, he blinked quickly and smiled.

He knew what he was holding. He knew this was on the same level as her ruby. Flick brought it to his lips, kissed it gently, before he put it around his neck and tucked the ring down against his heart.

She'd be there with him the entire time. And he knew this would be a talisman that he'd clutch when things inevitably got hard.

"Doesn't look too bad, right?" Flick said, clapping Simon on the shoulder. "I'm ready."

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The Institute, New York, Tuesday

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