Lady Midnight (After the Iratze)

Found

Just a moment ago, Julian's face had been flushed with color, fevered with the excitement of communicating with Emma. Now it was blanched pale. An aching sensation had taken hold of his chest, and he felt suddenly so fragile, like he might break apart at any moment. How could it be true? Mark loves us. He doesn't want to be a part of the Wild Hunt. He wouldn't hurt Emma.

He had always assumed, over these last five years, that Mark would remain unchanged in his loyalty. He had always looked up to Mark, imitated his graceful, effortless fighting style, respected him for bearing runes that hurt him more than others because of his faerie blood, envied the way he drew people's attention (well, mostly Emma's attention). Mark couldn't be their enemy. He trusted his brother.

But... Emma wouldn't lie. Not to me, not about something important. It was time to make a choice: trust Mark or trust Emma. He sighed, heart heavy. It was hardly even a choice. For Julian, the answer would always be Emma.

Pulling himself up from the dark ocean of his thoughts, he looked up to see Cristina's face peering down at him with no small amount of concern.

"What's wrong? Please tell me," she pleaded.

And he told her.

Ten minutes later, the children of the LA Institute were gathered around Julian in the training room. He clutched a small silver compass nervously in his right hand. The compass had an inner compartment that contained a few strands of Marks' hair, and Magnus Bane had enchanted it years ago, as a favor, to point towards its subject at all times when he was in this world. If Mark was in Faerie, it just pointed due North all the time. But right now it was pointing southwest, down toward the Pacific coast.

After a bit of convincing, everyone was shocked but willing to believe Emma. They planned to track Mark to wherever the Wild Hunt had Emma imprisoned. Julian had told her they were coming, and she'd told him to hurry. He didn't want to waste any time.

"Dru, you stay here with Tavvy. Everybody else, it's your choice whether you want to come with me."

"But I'm thirteen! I'm old enough to come! I'm—" Dru protested.

"YOU. WILL. STAY. HERE." The icy glare Julian shot at her was enough to silence her argument. She pouted and turned away, but did not speak out again. It was rare for him to be so harsh, so she must have known he meant it.

"I'm in!" Cristina broke the silence.

"Me too," piped up Livvy, looking toward her twin brother. Ty nodded his affirmation and took Livvy's hand.

What an impressive group we are. An eighteen year old, a seventeen year old, and two fifteen year olds. The Wild Hunt might as well give up now. Self-doubt was creeping into Julian's head, but he shook it off. No. I need to be positive. We can do this. We are trained Shadowhunters. And...Emma needs us. Emma needs me. Emma...please be ok.

Cristina drove them down the coast, with Julian providing directions from the compass. At one point they had to stop for a few minutes because Julian was doubled over, screaming in pain that was not his own. None of them wanted to think about what that meant, but Cristina drove faster from that point on. Finally they reached a rocky outcropping that jutted out into a bay. The needle was pointing directly outward. Mark is here, and Raziel, please let Emma be here too.

The four young Shadowhunters made their way stealthily along the rocky ledges, guided by Julian's hand signals as he watched the needle of the compass. Suddenly, he held up a hand, motioning them to stop. As they listened carefully, they could hear voices coming from a cave up ahead. That must be the Hunters. Where was Emma? She had written to describe her surroundings ("dark room, one door"), and after a moment he spotted such a place. A door sank into a cave wall just fifty feet from the mouth of the cave in which the Hunters were gathered.

Julian told the others to look out and be ready to back him up, then sank low to the ground and began to make his way toward the door. It was midday now, and he felt very visible in the bright sunlight. Please don't look this way, he silently begged the Hunters.

By some miracle, he reached the door without being seen. He used a rune to unlock it and slipped inside. Reaching inside his pocket, he pulled out a witchlight stone. As it illuminated the room, he let out a gasp of horror. Emma was slumped over on the floor, her right arm bent in in an unnatural angle. Blood caked her blonde hair and her clothes were torn almost to shreds. She had clearly been beaten, and brutally. Julian crouched at her side and turned her over, cradling her head on his lap. His hands flew frantically around her neck, her chest, her wrists, looking for a pulse, praying for a sign of life from his best friend, his parabatai, the girl he loved.

There it was, faint but steady. He felt a pulse in her neck and was flooded by a relief so sweet and powerful that he nearly burst into tears. He leaned down and tenderly kissed the place where he could feel her heartbeat, overwhelmed with gratitude for her life.

"Jules?" Her voice was a dry whisper, but he had never been so happy to hear it.

"Yeah, it's me, Em." He pushed her matted bloody hair back from her pale face, which thankfully had not sustained more than a few scratches from the beating. She looked terrible, but her eyes shone with trust. "You're going to be ok," he assured her. She passed out again.

The next twenty minutes or so were spent drawing careful healing runes on various parts of Emma's body. She was so bruised that he wasn't sure whether he'd done enough, but eventually she regained consciousness and was able to sit up, grabbing his shoulder for support.

"Took you long enough to get here," she said groggily.

Julian grinned, so happy to hear her being sarcastic again. She must be feeling better. "Well, I blame Cristina. She drives too slow."

Emma smiled and flashed her eyes toward him. Their faces were just inches apart in the dark room, lit only by the flickering witchlight. It cast waves of rippling color onto the cave walls, creating an atmosphere reminiscent of the aurora borealis. He hadn't realized how close they were until that moment. He had been holding her head on his lap before, and now she was sitting up, her hip pressed against his and her hand on his shoulder. Her smile disappeared, replaced by another expression, one less familiar to him. She was biting her lower lip lightly, eyes shifting from him to the floor and back. Nervous. She's feeling nervous. Butterflies rose in his stomach as he gazed at her. Emma is adorable when she's nervous, he concluded inwardly. As if in a trance, he got up onto his knees and moved her arm from his shoulder. There was nothing between them now but empty air and witchlight. He leaned forward, bringing his face near enough to hers that he could feel her breath on his cheek.

He hesitated. I'm not supposed to do this. I told myself I wouldn't do this.

But then Emma was kissing him. She had only moved an inch, just enough to bring her lips up to touch his. She tasted like salt and blood, but also like Emma. Her lips were soft and urgent, moving against his in a tender caress. His body responded immediately. Gently, he pushed her down to the ground, hands gripping her shoulders. He moved so that his knees were on either side of her, pressed into the bare skin of her legs through her shredded jeans. He could feel every breath she took; feel her ribcage lifting to press her chest up against him. He groaned in agonized pleasure. There is nothing, nothing in the world that feels like this. His hips began to sway, moving backward and forward, and his breath hitched in his throat when she began to mirror his motion, rolling her hips with his. Blood was pounding through his veins, building to an unstoppable tide. Her hands raked down his back, fingernails scratching along the leather of his gear. She bit his lip and he moaned, bringing his lips crashing down on hers again, parting them with his tongue—

Crash!

The cave room was suddenly flooded with light as the door burst open and the afternoon sun streamed in.

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A/N: I was missing writing the feels, so I put a little sexy time in this chapter. :)  Hope you enjoyed it!

Also, shout out to applepinegirl for putting the idea of caves by the LA Institute into my head!  Check out her LM story, it's great!