It had been some time before the quintet arrived back at the institute, seeing as none of them had a mundane driver's license and they didn't trust Clary enough to just wing it, which put her in even more of a bad mood. She'd been practically interrogating each of them with questions about the downworld and the shadowhunters, and swiftly went on to rant about their prejudices against mundanes, to which Isabelle, Alec and Jace had raced to defend themselves.

"I still don't understand, how can shadowhunters be better than what you people call mundanes?"

"Believe me Clary, I've been asking the same question for a while." Teddy replied quietly, holding the door open, "That said we do protect humans so, y'know, comme ci, comme ça."

"Oh, no, you're right...humans," She whirled around to face the group, fixing each member with a glare "You protect humans. You left Simon in the van, alone. Great job, you guys rock."

"I hope you're not pinning this all on Belle, because that's completely unfair." Ted said, seemingly nonchalantly, but with a hard edge of protectiveness in his tone.

"Exactly, there is some truth to the idea that human beings should have a modicum of common sense." Alec stated, raising a fair point.

"Alec, not now." Izzy scolded, glancing back at Clary apologetically, as Jace explained in vain how Simon was just bait.

"Why does anybody think I have the cup? What, my mom lies to me my entire life, except 'Oh, by the way, there's this magic cup, that I hid on, like, the Planet Bongo, but oh, don't tell anyone'." Clary exclaimed in a way that would have been comical had she not been furious with the people in front of her, "What do I do now?"

"We have to report this to the Clave, tell them what we've learned about Valentine." Alec reminded everyone sternly.

"What? That he's my father?" Clary asked, looking impatient, "Great. Fine. Go tell them--what good does that do Simon?"

"Clary, you've got to understand that this is our world too, everything here is connected." Ted tried to explain gently, although her burst of selfishness didn't sit right with him.

"He's right, the vamps want the cup--" Jace continued, only to be cut off by Clary.

"Why? It creates new shadowhunters."

"Nobody wants Valentine creating an army loyal to himself."

"Plus, it controls demons." Isabelle added gravely.

"So the vampires will trade Simon for the cup, and Valentine will trade my mother for the cup." Clary breathed, as if the situation was sinking in, "Either way I lose someone I love. What if I just toss it up in the air and let them fight among themselves?"

"So, this doesn't matter to you?"

"Of course it matters!" She snapped.

Alec scoffed. "Funny way of showing it."

"Listen, when you saved my life, I put my trust in you," She looked at each of the shadowhunters, "Now I need you to put your trust in me. I can't turn into what you guys are overnight."

"She's right, she was raised as a mundane." Isabelle commented with a sigh.

"What're you, her spokesman now?"

"I don't need a spokesman, I need a plan." She huffed, storming off in a fit, despite not knowing her way around the institute.

"This is a bad idea." Alec commented simply, his jaw set firmly. Ted shrugged tiredly, and walked after Clary, thinking she could use with some supervision around the tech. His parabatai and Jace followed quickly, whilst Alec begrudgingly went with them, hanging back a bit.

"These screens, all this stuff, can't any of it help me find Simon? Where is he anyway?" Demanded Clary, gesturing wildly, as Jace guided her away from the screens towards a table, where they lingered whilst they formulated a plan.

"You," She pointed at Ted, who had propped himself up against a pillar, "You knew the vampire that took Simon, do you have any idea where he might be?"

"Oh yeah, Raph? He's in Camille's clan, they're based in the Hotel DuMort down in Gansevoort Street, if I recall."

"Well then why are we here? Why did we come back, we need to go there, let's go now!" She exclaimed frantically.

"We need a Clave resolution for that." Alec commented, which prompted Clary to look at Izzy expectantly, but the brunette just shook her head. "The five of us can't just declare war on the vamps all by ourselves."

"And," Her brother added, "We can't act without considering our options, downworlders are slaves to their impulses; we're not."

"Xander, that's not fair--"

"Alec, you can't just jump on--"

The pair of parabatai began simultaneously, before looking at each other, Ted motioning for Isabelle to talk.

"You can't just stomp on all downworlders." She stated, folding her arms sternly.

"You're right," He grinned then, "Seelies have their charms apparently."

"Seelies--the faeries and elves, right?" Clary piped up, looking over at Ted for confirmation, which he gave with a short nod and smiled, quite proud she remembered that.

"Izzy can tell you all about them, she's got a thing."

"Yeah, we've all got our things, don't we?" She smirked in retaliation, glancing obviously at Ted (who had turned his head to greet a passing Shadowhunter), which caused the smile to drop from her older brother's face.

"I can't listen to this, Simon's been kidnapped by vampires. Guess I'll just take care of it myself."

"Clary! You're gonna get yourself killed," When she didn't turn around, Jace added, "And Simon, too."

She paused briefly, turning around on her heel and stalking back to the group, her hair bouncing with the force of her steps.

"Then help me." She started, as she placed both hands on the table in front of her, "While we're here discussing our other options, my best friend is suffering. Is that something shadowhunters understand, or am I just being a mundane?"

Jace exchanged looks with the other, his eyes meeting with Alec's disapproving ones, and Izzy's determined ones, and Ted's non-committal ones, before they darted back to the red-head that had consumed his thoughts for the better part of two days.

"Clary's right. The vamps made the first move, we're gonna take care of this ourselves, right now."

"This is a bad idea--"

"Do you have a better one?" He asked, holding a long gaze with his parabatai, "Look, the vamps broke the Accords, they kidnapped a mundie, that's a big no-no. The Clave will give us a lecture and then they'll be glad we did it."

"Can't argue with that."

"Even if we went ahead, I don't see how we get out of here without having to explain where we're going." Reasoned Alec.

"Out the back way, surely?" Ted suggested.

"But we need weapons," he countered, "We can't let anyone see us get them."

"I know where we can get what we need." Jace smirked, walking off.

"Does he know how annoying it is to walk off without saying anything and expecting you to follow?" Huffed the archer, as he strode across to where Jace was going.

"Probably not, but no doubt you'll let him know, eh, Xander?" Ted remarked, smiling at him. The raven-haired boy shrugged sheepishly in response, and they carried on.

"Who's grave is it we're looking for?"

"Mary Milligan's, born January 10th, 1802, died January 10th, 1878." Isabelle supplied.

"Wait, what're we actually looking for?"

"A cache of weapons."

"Why are there shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?" Clary asked, a crease blooming between her brows.

"All of the ancient religions recognise demons, or at least they used to."

"They forgot about the threat because we've been here to protect them," Alec informed, "Typical mundane failure of imagination."

"Are you saying we did too good a job? You just can't let up, can you?" Isabelle commented, a disbelieving tone lacing her words.

"You know what, Alec, why don't you go and check out by the angel?" Jace snapped, shooting a glare towards his parabatai, who did as directed with a scowl marring his features.

Ted wanted to go after him--he didn't agree with what Alec said in the slightest--but he had to admit that it was increasingly more difficult to tolerate him being bossed around by Jace, teased by Izzy and snapped at by Clary, but he decided that the boy probably needed some space. He didn't pay attention to the muttered conversation between the red-head and the golden boy, instead turning to Izzy, who was smiling down at her phone.

"Meliorn?"

"You know it," She grinned excitedly, "He's home, I'm outta here."

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Jace called.

"Belle, I hope you know I can just call Ruby, she's part of the Clan in Long Island, she's bound to know how to get into DuMort."

"Are you friends with every downworlder, Teddy?" Isabelle asked, changing the subject and placing a hand on her hip. It was more than obvious she was excited to see her 'friend', regardless of the information she would get out of her visit, and although it would be quicker for him to ring up his friend, he figured it wouldn't hurt to let Izzy see the seelie knight.

"Not in the slightest, as you know," He replied, "Just enough decent people round here and in London to be friends with. No seelies though, I blabber too much and I think it annoys them."

"If we're done with the chit-chat, my best friend is missing." Clary interrupted brashly.

"Oh, so it's alright when Jace stalls but when we go on a small tangent, that's punishable by, what, the Wrath of the Fray?" Ted commented to Isabelle, who smacked his shoulder lightly and pointed at her forehead. The prior obliged, leaning down to press his lips against her forehead, before Izzy kissed his cheek quickly, and waltzed off to see Meliorn.

"Why is she not coming with us, again?" Clary asked, confused.

"She's got to find out how to get into the lair, they don't exactly let shadowhunters barge in through the front door." He answered, pulling out his phone to ring Ruby, he figured if worse came to worst, he could just let Izzy know where to meet him.

"Hiya Rubes, it's Ted," He started, his voice sounding light, "Yeah, I'm sorry to call up so early in the night, I hope I'm not interrupting anything? No? Cool, um, right, well I was wondering if you could let me know how to get into the Hotel DuMort? Yeah, Camille's place, why? Oh, no don't worry about it Ruby, no, I completely understand, she's a scary bitch, I wouldn't want to cross her either. Well, say hi to Megan and the Clan for me, enjoy the rest of your night." A dead end.

"So that was Ruby?" Clary questioned as she fell into step with him, away from the quarrelling parabatai.

"Yeah, I met her and her friend, Meg, a few months back."

"How? I thought shadowhunters aren't supposed mix with downworlders."

"They were being threatened by some shadowhunters about a rogue vampire den--the dens are where some vamps drain mundanes of their blood--" He explained quickly, "And I had to step in, it was getting needlessly nasty, and the girls clearly had no idea about any of it."

"So, what are you like, the shadowhunter Robin Hood? Vigilante, protects the oppressed from the privileged?" Her tone was almost theatrical, and Ted quite like the curiosity and humour interlaced in it.

He chuckled quietly at that and tilted his head down to face her, "You make me sound so much more impressive than I actually am, I literally just treat them properly, because they're people like you and I, and shadowhunters tend to forget that."

"So how come you don't stick up for the mundanes, then? Y'know, when Alec starts trash talking any human ever."

"Look, he knows just as well as I do that mundanes aren't all as stupid as he says; believe it or not, he watches their films, listens to their music and reads their books, his parents just don't approve," He spoke with a hint of bitterness at the thought of Robert and Maryse, "Call it a mundane appreciation repression, but just know Alec doesn't mean it, alright? Trust me."

Clary nodded her head, a hint of a knowing smile on her lips, as their eyes resumed scanning the headstone of the graves, the red-head quickly locating the grave of a Mrs. Mary Milligan, and calling the other two boys over.

"'Beloved servant'? Who'd want that on a headstone?"

"Someone who is in service to a cause greater than themselves." Said Alec, making his way to the base of the grave, ready to help Jace move the lid.

"At least she is now," The blond remarked, before pulling out his stele, "Abracadabra."

"Wait, do you people actually say that?" Clary asked, a hint of amusement in her words. Ted shook his head, and she glanced down, looking embarrassed, so he placed a hand on her shoulder, while the two brothers moved the top of the grave around. They brushed over the intricate details of the top of a box, opening that too, to reveal a plethora of seraph blades and long knives, which Ted wouldn't say no to, but he'd have preferred his quarterstaff by a mile.

"Don't touch that," Alec said, as Clary picked up one of the blades, "You don't know how to use it."

"What, like at the Pandemonium when I killed that demon?"

"If I recall correctly--and I do--Eds was the one that hit it with a knife, you just happened to be holding a seraph blade that the demon fell onto."

"Alec, I'm gonna show her the right way to use it," Jace assured, turning back to the weapons, "See anything you need?"

"No," He replied after a moment's assessment, "There's no bow in here. I need one. I need to rune some arrows, that's back at the institute, I gotta go."

The air was tense and awkward in the beat of silence that followed before Jace's reply. It was obvious the two hadn't made up during that conversation, to say the least.

"I'll go in through the back, no one will bother me if I'm alone."

"In that case, Xander, do you mind grabbing my staff for me?"

"Why can't you go with him?"

"One thing you should know about Teddy, Clar, is that he's friendly, it's pretty fuckin' annoying actually. He has to say hi to everyone, if he went in, they'd notice." Jace explained.

"Isn't it wonderful living in a world where being polite is a nuisance." He remarked to himself, although he did intend for Jace to hear it; the pair were close, they'd muck about with each other all the time, the sudden change hadn't gone unnoticed by Ted and he wasn't half pleased with it.

"I'll meet up with you as soon as I can, alright?" Spoke Alec, as he turned to the british boy, "Eds, you take a seraph blade anyway and be careful."

"Always am, Xander, now bugger off and get your bow." The boys grinned at each other, and Alec departed without sparing Jace or Clary another glance... until he turned around and started talking quietly with Jace. Ted stood by Clary, already picking up on some flaws in her grip, though he left that for the golden boy to point out.

Alec left for real, after he and Jace had a short conversation that must have settled things, which left Jace to teach Clary how to properly wield the sword, which soon turned more flirty than it should've done, and left Ted, with his back turned, wishing he'd gone with Alec. He lingered by the grave, pocketing a spare stele, and pretending to be preoccupied, until finally their training session came to an end. He began to zone out of their chatter before his ears perked up at something Clary said.

"How do you know they'll come back?"

"What, Izzy and Alec?" Jace clarified, "I've grown up with them, we're practically siblings."

"You know Alec doesn't like me, right?"

"You act as though Alec likes anyone." Ted joked, only to be met with a serious look from Clary.

"He seems to like you." The red-head spoke, her words causing the brunet's face to flush with colour.

"No, he loves us, which is different to liking," Jace said eventually, not noticing how the exchange affected Ted, "You remember what he just called me? We're parabatai. Closer than brothers. Bound together for life. We share a soul, it's the same with Teddy and Iz, okay, they'll be here."

"In battle, our hearts beat as one, you've got nothing to worry about, Rusty."

"Rusty? I'm flattered." Ted shrugged in reply, and started making his way out of the graveyard towards the Hotel DuMort, or, that's what he thought anyway.

A/N- hello my beautiful dumplings, part two is already written and coming soon but i didn't think you'd want a 5000 word update, so enjoy for now.
Please vote, comment and share if you can/want to, it really helps with motivation to keep this going, let my know what you think or if there's anything you'd like to see in later chapters!
Thank you :)
Stay safe! X