Wild Warriors: A Shadowhunters Fanfic

13. Bad Blood

Half an hour and a long walk down the bedroom hallways found me seated in Isabelle's room, my legs crossed carefully to keep my shoes off her bedcovers.
My parabati was facing her floor length mirror and meticulously pulling bobby pins out of her thick hair, letting it fall behind her back. She was wearing a long sleeved dark blue dress with a neckline that rose almost to her jaw. It was perfectly clean and pressed to perfection.
I stared at Isabelle, watching her fix her hair. She looked almost exactly like her mother besides the obvious youth Isabelle had compared to Maryse.

Finally, after a few minutes of dead silence, I spoke up.
"Alright, Izzy, tell me what's going on."
The girl halted her movements for half a second before pulling another bobby pin from her hair. She frowned at me through the mirror.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"You know what I'm talking about. Your dress looks like something out of Maryse's closet, not your own. Your heels are only three inches and I know your motto is 'nothing less than seven inches', you've started keeping your hair in a ponytail-"
"Ok, ok, Cara," Isabelle sighed. I closed my mouth and lent back on my hands. My parabati pulled the last pin from her hair, placed it on the small table next to the mirror, and came to sit next to me on the bed.

Her expression stunned me.
She looked...hopeless, and I couldn't figure out why. I frowned with concern and placed a soft hand on Izzy's back when she took her seat.
"What's wrong?" I whispered. Isabelle knotted her hands together in her lap and took a deep breath before telling me.
"Mom is freaking out because of all the unsanctioned missions we've gone on, and she said it's caused the Clave to loose their faith in our family. The Lightwoods have always been the responsible, leading family of the Institute and now Alec and I have ruined that!" Izzy took another deep breath, calming herself down before she could get too worked up. It was odd for her to be this upset about something, despite it having to do with her family. She had never been the one to loose sleep over her familial issues.
"Isabelle, everything will be fine," I promised in a soothing voice. "You know how the Clave is: quick to get angry but willing to forgive. They must know it wasn't just you and Alec that went on those missions-"
"They don't care about you or Jace!" Isabelle said in a loud voice. She wasn't angry at me, simply desperate for things to go back to normal. "And the only way the Clave will forgive us is if Alec and I do something to prove ourselves loyal to them."

I was silent. Proving oneself to the Clave is a tedious, awful task that occasionally causes a Shadowhunter to loose everything and still gain nothing. The fact that my parabati was having to go through this because of her willingness to help a mundane girl was outrageous. But now wasn't the right time to get angry. Isabelle needed me to support her and calm her down and so that was what I would try to do.
I returned my hand to her back, rubbing small circles over her shoulder blades.
"We'll figure something out," I whispered to her. "I promise. The Clave is made up of Shadowhunters just like you and me. They'll understand eventually."
"Mom and Dad have already decided for us," Isabelle told me in an almost dead tone of voice. I looked at her in surprise but tried not to show it.
"They have?" I asked. She nodded, pulling on her fingers.
"Alec is getting married."
My hand abandoned Izzy's shoulder and flew to my open mouth. A tiny gasp had left me before I could stop it but Isabelle had barely noticed.

How could Alec marry someone?
Who would he marry?
Wasn't he gay, how would that work out?
What about him and Magnus?
Did Alec even agree to this?
Did Alec even know?

Question after question swirled around in my head, each getting me more and more angry at the Lightwood parents. How could they put their own child through that? And at such a young age, too. Alec was only going to be twenty in a few months.
"I'm so sorry," I managed to say after a few minutes. Isabelle nodded into her lap and continued pulling on her fingers until I reached down to take her hands in mine.
"Hey," I whispered. "Look at me."
Isabelle lifted her head to lock eyes with me.
"Everything is going to be alright. Alec will be alright even if he goes through with this, Magnus will figure out a way to make him happy, we both know that."
My words brought the tiniest smile to Isabelle's face but I didn't miss it. I smiled a little in return and squeezed her hands.
"I had to break up with Meliorn," Isabelle told me solemnly. "We couldn't keep seeing each other. Mom thought I was the reason the Seelies had cut contact with the Clave."
"We'll figure out a way through that too, Izzy. I've never known you as the girl to stop seeing a guy because of what her parents say."
Isabelle smiled again, more this time, and I could tell she was feeling better already.