Malia sat outside on the balcony, looking over at the view of the city. She seemed lost in her thoughts, so much that she didn't even hear Magnus step outside.

"Good morning."

Malia's head spun around, as she faced her older brother, "Morning, Magnus." She replied, as the older warlock took a seat beside her. Magnus clicked his fingers, making two takeaway cups of cappuccinos appear in his hands, before he offered one to Malia. "Thanks." She said, taking it.

"How are you feeling?" Magnus asked. Malia shrugged, "I'm feeling a lot better." She admitted. "I still can't portal just yet, but hopefully with another treatment I can." The Bane declared. Magnus nodded, "I'll whip you up another potion this morning." He decided, as Malia smiled in response.

"Are you okay? Other than that?" The older Bane asked. Malia sighed, "Losing my magic.. had never made me feel so.. useless." She confessed, before she made eye contact with her brother again. "I followed Clary through the portal to save her, but I just ended up becoming a liability to her.. a burden."

Magnus' expression softened, "That isn't your fault, you became one of Valentine's experiments, and completely against your will, too." He explained. "But then I also became a problem for you.. your boyfriend was dying, and you stopped everything to save me." Malia insisted.

Magnus shook his head, "There was nothing more I could have done for Alec until Jace arrived... and Malia, you are the most important person in my life. I will do anything I can to help you."

Malia looked away, feeling tears sting her eyes. "I'm sorry.. for everything." She said quietly, as the ground began to shake. Magnus, alarmed, got to his feet, "What do you mean?" He asked, wanting to calm her down. "I went from being your perfect little sister to some.. absolute problem." Malia rambled on, as the ground began to shake more violently.

"Hey.. hey.." Magnus reached out, as he placed his hands on Malia's shoulders. She made eye contact with her brother, and broke out of her trance.. with that, the ground stopped shaking.

"I'm just a problem.. to everyone." Malia finally spoke. Magnus shook his head, "You're not. I promise you." He said, before he stepped forward and embraced Malia. The younger warlock hugged back, staying silent.

☠︎︎

Hours later

Malia's shoulders sink, as she faces a large door that says, "Brooklyn Therapy Practice" in large letters. The Bane faced Isabelle, "I thought you said we were going out for pizza.." She mumbled. The Lightwood nodded, "We are, after you have your first therapy session." She chirped.

Malia sighed, "Look.. I don't know if Magnus set you up for this or something.. but I don't need this. Telling a mundane my downworlder problems is simply going to make their head explode." She explained. Isabelle shrugged, "Magnus wanted to send you to therapy, yes. But I insisted on taking you. And this practice works purely with Downworlders and Shadowhunters.. Mundanes actually can't see the practice, it's glamoured."

The warlock tried to come up with some kind of excuse, but then thought about earlier that morning, how she could have caused the apartment building to collapse. Isabelle grabbed Malia's hand and lead her inside, before she could say anything.

☠︎︎

With Isabelle's short departure, Malia sunk into a lounge seat, before she faced a blonde haired woman, who smiled down at her. "You must be Malia." She said, as Malia simply nodded. "I'm Eleanor, I'm going to be taking your session today."

Malia nodded, sinking further into the seat. "So, tell me, what brought you into this room today?" Eleanor asked. Malia sighed, "My brother and my friend organised this.. I don't really know why I am here... or at least, how I could benefit from this." She confessed.

"If you don't mind me," Eleanor began, taking a brand new notebook, and writing down Malia's name in it, and the date of the session. "I'm going to take some notes. This is all things that could be useful to jot down for future sessions." She explained. "Tell me about your brother."

Malia shrugged, "My brother is Magnus Bane," She began, as Eleanor gave a knowing nod. "He's about 150 years older than me, but despite the pretty big age gap.. I consider us... kind of close." She explained as Eleanor took notes.

"Tell me about your friend." The Barnes woman asked. "Her name is Isabelle... I only met her very recently." Malia responded. "How do you know Isabelle?" The therapist asked. "Our brothers are dating."

After a moment Eleanor asked, "Are there any other names that might come up in our sessions?"

Malia bit her lip, "Clary." She said. Eleanor written her name down before she asked, "And what is Clary to you?" The warlock fidgeted with her fingers before she answered, "A friend."

"Any other names?"

"Asmodeus. He is my father. And Avery.. he was.. my love." Malia said before Eleanor looked up at the warlock. "Do you have a mother?" She asked. Malia simply shook her head. It was clear to Eleanor that Malia wasn't going to speak unless prompted to, so she decided to try and ask about her early life.

"Where did you grow up?" She asked. Malia began fidgeting with her hands, "I moved around a lot." She said. "Who did you live with?" Eleanor asked. "My Mum, Dad or Magnus. Mostly my Dad, though."

"May I ask, is your mother still in the picture?" Eleanor asked. Malia dug her fingernails into the lounge chair before she managed to force out an answer, "No."

"May I ask what happened?"

Malia remained silent.

It was clear to Eleanor that the Bane didn't want to open up, so she decided to ask questions, about what she had already learnt about Malia.. including the incident of her letting demons into Manhattan.

"Upon your arrival, you let demons into Manhattan and.. caused quite a lot of destruction.. I take it that something brought all of that emotion on?" She asked.

"How do you even know about that?" Malia asked, hastily. Eleanor responded, "I hear things. I'm not judging you, Malia. I just want to help you."

Malia looked away for a second, before she regained eye contact with Eleanor. "I had been kicked out of my home and sent here, to a world I barely understand, by the only person I thought I had... I was angry." She sighed. "From my small amount of time in New York, I experienced a lot of discrimination... I had decided that I hated this place, and if I was unable to go home, I wanted to destroy it." The warlock concluded.

"Tell me, where is home?" Eleanor asked. "Edom. A hell dimension." Malia answered, as the Barnes woman nodded. "Do you still consider it to be your home?"

That question stunned Malia, because she didn't know the answer.

"I... I think so." Malia answered, unsure. "I.. I don't know." She added. "What.. do you mean?" Eleanor asked. "I don't really know where home is anymore— I don't know where I belong!" The Bane girl snapped. Eleanor nodded sympathetically, before jotting down more notes.

"Sorry."

Eleanor looked up, raising an eyebrow at Malia.

"Sorry for snapping at you."

The Barnes smiled, that Malia had acknowledged her bad behaviour. "At least you can acknowledge it, that is good." She said. Malia remained quiet.

"How do you feel?" Eleanor asked. "What do you.. mean?" Malia raised an eyebrow, confused. "Well.. what emotions do you feel, either now or constantly."

Malia's eyes drifted away from Eleanor, and instead out of the window. "I feel angry.. and... confused." The Bane said. "And lost..." Her eyes averted back to the therapist, who gave a sympathetic look. "Unfortunately our session today is over, would you like to book another?" Eleanor asked.

Malia got out of the chair, and shook her head. Eleanor gave the warlock a look as if to say, are you sure? The Bane sighed, "How about in exactly one week?" She asked. Eleanor nodded, with a smile. "That would be perfect."

☠︎︎

Hours later

Looking down at the lifeless body, attacked by a demon, Isabelle said, "Well, this is one nasty demon. Punched the hole right through his chest." Malia looked at the wound, quite disgusted. Madi eyed Malia curiously, "I'm sure you've inflicted worse." She teased. Malia sent the Lightwood a glare, and Madeline back away, realising that she probably shouldn't have said that.

"With that kind of strength, I doubt it's done yet." Luke said, as he walked past Madeline and approached Isabelle and Malia.

"Nothing in the immediate area." Alec said, to Isabelle. "We're taking the body back to the Institute. I'll run some tests to see what kind of demon we're dealing with." Isabelle explained, before looking to Malia. "Mind portalling us back?" She asked. "Not at all." The Bane responded, as she could at last portal again.

"Clary, Madi and I will widen the perimeter." Alec said, as Madi nodded before they looked over at Clary. "Hey, Fray! We got a demon to hunt. Come on."

As Malia, Isabelle and the body left the scene for the Institute, Alec, Madi and Clary searched the perimeter.

"Most important thing: don't slow me down. You slow me down, you get us all killed." Alec explained. "Sounds reasonable." Clary responded, before she stopped abruptly as Madi grabbed her hand, and began to draw a rune on it.

"What's this for?" Clary asked. Alec answered, "Let's you see the demon's heat signature." The younger Lightwood then spoke, "First time can be sensory overload. The trick is to focus."

"Try to filter out everything unimportant, hone in on the heat signature." Alec suggested before Clary answered, "Yeah, I'm honing. I'm just not seeing anything."

"Patience."

"Easy for you to say." Clary said as the trio continued to walk. "For someone who hasn't been training her whole life, this stuff is impossible."

"Impossible just means try again. Not that you have to worry about all that. You'll be out of the field soon enough." Alec spoke as Clary gave him a confused look. "You're going to Idris." Madeline reminded her.

"Wow, news travels fast. But I haven't decided yet, so don't get too excited about throwing me a going away party." Clary teased, before Madi gave her a smirk, "Does your girlfriend know about this yet?" Alec rolled his eyes at his sisters teasing.

"Girlfriend?"

"Oh come on, anybody can see that you and Malia have it bad for eachother." Madeline smirked, as Clary blushed madly, "Malia and I? But we're so different." She admitted. "There's nothing wrong with different." Alec reminded her. He and Magnus were practically opposites, but they seemed to be working very well.

"Honestly, I think you'll like Idris. It's amazing." The taller Lightwood said, changing the subject, much to his sister's dismay. "Yeah? I bet that it'd be pretty amazing to get me out of your hair, huh?" Clary asked.

Madi tried to stifle a giggle. "We didn't say that. You did."

☠︎︎

So it turns out I'm able to update lol, I'm not at busy as expected today. This is absolutely the calm before the storm, im expecting school to get suddenly hectic af