THE IMMORTALS (✓)

17. Expect the unexpected

The whole gang was gathered in the ops center, some were pacing around, some were just sitting on the tables or leaning against the wall, their bodies tensed with a horrified gaze in their eyes.

Simon was still a sobbing mess as he sat on one of the chairs placed around the monitors, his face buried in his wife's chest while Izzy kept rubbing her hand over his back in a soothing manner, trying to calm the man whose tears didn't seem to stop.

Alec was sitting on the stairs leading to the first floor, hands linked with his warlock's who was resting his head on his shoulder, their bodies tense with worry filled in their eyes. There was pin-drop silence in the hall, the only sound audible was Simon's sobs, no one dared to speak any word, that was until Stefan walked in with Rosette who were performing the last rights on the remains of Julian's body.

"So, um..." Stefan started, eyes gazing at every person who was now looking at them, feeling a bit uncomfortable under their gaze. "what's the plan? What are we going to do now?"

"Plan!?" Simon yelled, eyes burning with tears of fury. "Are you serious? Plan? Can't we just go and kill that Kai or whatever his name is! He murdered my brother! He murdered Jay in cold blood and we're here making plans!? I don't understand-"

"Si, hey, you need to calm down, okay?"

"I can't calm down, Izzy! Jay... he's... he's gone.... he's gone..." Izzy wrapped her arms around his shoulders in a comforting manner as he kept sobbing and crying in her embrace.

Everyone's heart broke seeing the most bubbly person of their group in a sobbing mess. Wiping his tears, Jace walked forward, put his hand gently over Simon's shoulder, and gave it a light squeeze. Slowly, Simon lifted his head and looked into those vulnerable mismatched eyes.

"Simon, I understand your anger, I understand that you feel like you're world has been ripped apart from you, but you need to listen and try to calm a little. Anger won't do any good, if anything, it'll hurt you more."

"But Jace, that Kai-"

"I know Simon and I'm as guilty as everyone here. Even after so many precautions, we still were not able to save Julian, and murdering Kai mercilessly is the first thing everyone's thinking about but we can't just go and put a dagger through his heart, he won't even flinch. We need a plan if we want to defeat him."

"He's right, Simon," Magnus spoke. "I understand your pain, you lost someone close to you but we can't act on our anger, we need to think things through before we act on them."

Simon wiped his tears and gave a slow nod. "Then let's think things through, let's make a plan. We all know what he had done, what he wants, what are we waiting for? His next attack?"

"He has a point," Alec admitted, exhaling a breath of frustration. Everyone's attention turned towards him. "We know that's Kasper, we know he's after Clary and me, and all the Nightstorms. Wasting even a second means giving him an advantage over us. We need to find his weakness. We need to gather information about his life. Daniel, you've fought him before, you must know something about him."

Daniel sighed. "Not much, but I'll tell you what we found."

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*Late 1800s*

Strong winds were howling in the sky, making the strongest of the trees dance on its rhythm. Darkness was slowly consuming the city of Alicante but in the midst of  Brocelind forest, stood a man, holding a sword up at the dead sky, as if pleading to the god for mercy but the reality was much more menacing than it looked.

The whole of the Alicante and the shadow world was surrounding the man, but their focus wasn't on him. They were stuck in a trance, lifeless and motionless.