Inbetween

22 - Stabbed in the back

Leo's P.O.V.:
That night my mind wandered off. I saw blurry memories, that weren't mine. Only glimpses and they were nothing to begin with. Then it stopped and I ended in some room. There was a round table in the middle made out marble. Marbly chairs stood around the table as well. Everything was made out of marble. Pillars, statues, arches, the floor. It looked like a gothic church, but if it were in heaven.
A abnormal huge man, approximately 7'5, wearing a white tunic walked into the room. He had golden hair and it was so bright it almost seemed white. The hair was braided and tucked back. His eyes were like liquid gold. He had a perfect smile and when he saw me he spread his arms and embraced me. I confusedly put my arms up but he hugged me anyways.
"It's nice to finally meet you, Leo. I'm Raziel".

"Wha-", I tried to form a sentence but then chuckled thinking he must be kidding.
He couldn't be THE Raziel, could he? People said he wasn't even alive anymore. Others said he was an old man with a long white beard killing time sitting on a throne.
When he just kept smiling at me like nothing was out of normal I exclaimed:
"What?!", but probably just some gibberish came out.
"There's no need for you to worry, my child", he then said and made me feel like I was talking to a priest. And that made me uncomfortable as hell (got it :D? nvm that one sucked just forget about it).

"I'm sure Angels aren't allowed to summon people so there must be a special reason or occasion why I'm here, I assume".
"Straightforward, aren't we?", Raziel replied and dropped the priest facade.
"Straight? Hm, I don't think so. Not really", I said dryly and Raziel cracked up.
He then plopped onto the tallest and most detailed chairs. A cup, sword and mirror were engraved into the chair and resembled the Mortal Instruments. The tenseness vanished from the man's shoulders and rested his feet onto the table. He wore sandals.
He got the whole cliche. With a vague hand gesture his tunic vanished and left behind a white flannel shirt stuck nicely in his black trousers. His shirt wasn't buttoned all the way up and you could see his bare chest partly. His skin seemed so smooth and it was almost shining. Instead of sandals he wore leather shoes, which looked like they must've costed a fortune. Just that thought made me grin, because an Archangel wouldn't need money, right? Thats when I noticed that his braids turned into a messy man bun. I was stunned by his beauty I probably blushed.
"So, you might've guessed that there is a reason why you're here and I'm not going to lie, once because we Archangels aren't allowed to or at least it's considered bad and two because you deserve better.
I'll make it quick. As you might've already heard, our ex-ally broke our only rule and was punished as he deserved. He knew the risk and did anyways. People might think of it as an act of love and it is, but more importantly it's a political statement. If Archangels wandered off falling in love with humans, means I'd be doing my job wrong. So I've got to keep them in line. Do you understand?", he said now sitting up and folding his hands together on the table in front of him. I nodded slowly. Obviously I wasn't going to do whatever some Archangel told me to. Everything I do, I do it for what I think is right and because my descendants' future was at stake.
He looked at me like he had read my mind.

"There might be a way to break the curse. But only as long as you play along".
"Are you trying to bribe me?", came out and I regretted it.
"Look, I don't expect you to understand. Not now. But think about it okay?", Raziel said kind of smirking and then I woke up. Next to my Nicky.
After that I didn't talk to any of them about what I had just witnessed.

We were travelling through Italy's outskirts almost at the border to Switzerland, which meant we were close. Close to my biggest nightmare.
Anyway, we were staying somewhere at a camping place and Nicky and I volunteered to gather some wood for our fireplace. Nicky kept messing with me and teased me to death. The rest was in a heated argument when we came back. Everything went quite as soon as they saw me and everything directed their eyes at me. My smile swept away immediately.
"Is something wrong?", Nicky asked smiling confusedly.
"Tell them", Jace dared Alec. He looked uneasy and stared at his feet. Alec was bad at hiding things from people or lying.
"Tell us what?", I then intervened laughing nervously between laughs.
It took Alec more than 2 minutes to actually reply and when he did reply I wished I had never returned with Nicky.
"Mom a-and the Clave want to come to Idris so they can keep an eye on you. I meant to tell you, but I couldn't. Please, you have to understand", Alec said after clearing his throat.

My heart dropped to my stomach and I clenched my jaw a few times out of shock and surprise.
Alec turned red and avoided eye contact just like everyone else except for Nicky, who probably was even more shocked than I was.
"W-wait you all knew? You know what would happen a-and you still l-lied to me?", my voice broke and I was about to have a panic attack. Instead my fear and shock swept away leaving behind numbness in my facial expression.
"No, it's not like that. Alec just told us", Izzy stood up.
"Y-you won't let them, right?", I almost begged.
No reply.
A knot built in my throat, but I swallowed that feeling down.
"Treason", was all I could think of.
Stinging pain materialised in my chest and I could feel all my hair stand up.
The fireplace's flame went still like if there was no wind. Then it grew and began moving wildly.
"Leo-?".
But everything just faded away only anger and a feeling like they just stabbed me in the back remained. I tried to hold back my tears, but I began panting and salty drops fell to the ground.
Then reality hit and I was back at the camping place.
The flame kept growing and Alec, Jace, Izzy and Clary were all on their feet backing away from me and their eyes showed fear.
Were they afraid of me? How could they? It's me right?
Only Nicky still stood next to me and as he grabbed my wrist my mind went blank and the fire went
out with a hissing sound.

When Nicky and I headed back to the van he hugged me tight.
"As long as Nicky was by my side I could overcome everything", I thought.
He then tried to put some sense into me and told me to try to understand why Alec did what he had done.
Nicky wanted me to forgive me and kept telling me, that Alec just wanted what was best for me. After almost half an hour of him trying I gave in and went to Alec's tent.

Alec's P.O.V.:
I felt like and idiot. Now Leo hated me, but if I were him I probably would've hated me as well. He had every right to be mad at me. After all it was a stupid idea. I never had really thought about what that might do to Leo. Then Leo stood at my tent.
"A-Alec?", he asked with a shaking voice.
"I'm sorry Leo, I really am. But after Nicky came and things got worse I just couldn't tell you".
"W-wait what do you mean by "after Nicky came ne things got worse"?", he said and I noticed him getting stiff.
"I mean it can't be a coincidence. First he just arrives at the Institute after you got attacked by a demon making you think it was him. Then you get attacked again, nearly died and all that crazy stuff happened", I blurted out and probably shouldn't have said that.
"Just fyi if I'm here it's because of him. HE wanted me to forgive you. HE saved me by taking you to Magnus' place. HE, out of all people, wanted me to forgive YOU!", he said nearly screaming.
Before I could even reply he continued.
"But how could you know? All you've been doing was talk him down and be mean to him hurting his feelings over and over again like it's some replaceable nothing, when he tried his best for you to like him. You can be lucky he still tries to get close to you after explicitly telling him you didn't approve to him being my boyfriend. After all he's still MY boyfriend and I don't need your or anyone's permission to date whoever I want. And why do you care so much all of a sudden? You definitely didn't when I sought for your help. Nicky is the only reason I smile, he makes me feel loved. After all that crap that's happened the past few weeks you still decided to take me back there and lock me up in a tower so I can live a sad life? I thought you would understand how it feels like to be afraid to love somebody. To finally have someone for your own. Someone that loves you. It's not like I opposed to you obviously dating Magnus, did I? But you know what? I don't want to hear it. In fact, I don't want to talk to you anytime soon either. Happy now? Now that you've done your job and mum's and Robert's little puppet? Is that what you want? Do you seek their approval so bad you even sell out your own brother? Well, after today I don't know if I can call YOU that anymore", Leo then said and left.
The thing that hurt most was that he was right.

I had fucked up big time.

Author's note:
Hello luvs,
since the announcement didn't notice our followers I'll just tell you here.
First off, thank you all for 1K reads! I appreciate it so much.
The real owner, Sarah, and I were thinking about unpublishing "Inbetween", take a break and write the chapters to upload all at once.
We haven't decided yet, we wanted you to know first and know what you think about it.
So please, please, please tell me in the comment.
That's all, I hope you like this chapter soon there's gonna be a new character revealed so stay tuned!
see you besties <3