Unique (Malec)

Chapter 2

An alarm going off causes Alec to look up from what he was doing and walk over to the computer. It had been over a month since he had met the High Warlock of Brooklyn. And Alec honestly tried his best not to think about him.    His parents are setting him up for a wedding, he can't be all caught up in the slight possibility that he has a crush on Magnus Bane, a Downworlder male warlock. 

"Someone's trying to break in," Isabelle points out, walking over to Alec's side by the computer. "It's got to be the Circle. We can't let them in." 

Alec, Isabelle, Jace, and Clary rush outside the Institute to find whoever is trying to get in and stop them. They run out to a surprise, however, when they see the head vampire, Raphael, holding Clary's little mundane friend Simon. Simon lays still in the vampire's arms. Clary screams out as the group of Shadowhunters realize that Simon isn't breathing like he's supposed to be and is dead. 

"Oh, my God. Simon!" Clary yells, moving to run over to her still friend. Jace, however, stops her by wrapping his arms around her. 

Alec watches as Clary collapses to the ground, Jace right there to make sure she doesn't hurt herself. Alec feels a small ping of jealousy as he watches Jace and Clary. Even as Clary turns and curls in on Jace, already beginning to sob into his chest, Alec's jaw clenches. He knows he shouldn't be feeling things for his parabatai, but Alec can't help it. He had spent so long hiding his crush on Jace over the years. The remains of said crush were still yet to fully disappear. 

The small group of Shadowhunters help Raphael inside and lay Simon down. Clary being helped by Jace, tears already pouring down the red-headed girl's face. 

"Everyone's going to be wondering who was trying to get in," says Jace.

Alec speaks up. "I'll go, I can tell everyone that it was just a false alarm, that we didn't find anything and there's nothing to worry about it. Nobody will come down here." With that, he walks off, not giving any of the others a second glance. 

It's uncomfortable there, with Clary mourning over her human friend who only Izzy truly liked. Jace had only kind of gotten along with the mundane, but Alec not at all. Okay, truth be told, Alec didn't along well with many newcomers. He sees them as new arrivals who slow everyone down and have a lot to learn. 

"It's alright, it was just a false alarm. There was no one outside," the Shadowhunter dryly told anyone who asked about the intruder by the perimeter. 

Alec has been in a mood lately. Partially due to all of the things that have been happening to him, around him and because of him. Emotions don't often overwhelm Alec, but when they do, he tends to shut down. Like now. He's stressed and annoyed at his parents and at Isabelle, and Clary, and Jace. Isabelle trying to be more like their mother, which annoyed the crap out of Alec but he doesn't say anything. He's scared for the future, because deep down he does care. He's angry at Clary because ever since she arrived, everything has changed, and not for the better. He's upset with himself for not being able to do better, and not being able to be normal. 

However, there is another factor to Alec's mood. And that is his back. His back hurts like Hell. Right near his shoulder blades is where the pain is. He even asked Jace about it, wondering if it was just the other's pain he was feeling, but Jace said he didn't feel any pain in his back. Which is even stranger since Jace should at least have an idea each time Alec is in pain. Alec has no idea what's going on with his back, but he restrains from bringing it up and causing more of a problem for the already pretty crazy few weeks his fellow Shadowhunters have been having. 

After informing everyone that there wasn't, in fact, an intruder, Alec decides he needs a break. He ventures away from the crowds of Shadowhunters and walks to his bedroom where he can have some privacy.