Alec, Clary, and Charlotte turn the corner towards the end of the alley filled with graffiti and standing below it all was Simon. The boy turns to them with a grin as Charlotte smiles even wider.

"Simon!" Charlotte yells as she jogs tiredly to her brother and envelopes him in a hug. Not seeing her twin was difficult even if she never wanted to admit it among her jokes and insults. She feels Simon's arm wrap around her back and hold her close. "I'm sorry," she whispers, almost too low to hear. She feels him hold her closer and rub her back.

"I've missed you, Charlie."

"It's weird not seeing your face 24/7." She lets go and then smacks him over the head much to the tall shadowhunter's satisfaction. "And I'm going to kill you for what you told mom."

"I'm sorry. I panicked." Simon says with a goofy smile while rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, right. Ugh, I can't believe I missed you." Clary came up to the twins with a big smile seeing the two bicker once again.

"Clary." Simon greets her with a hug of his own.

"I'm glad you could be here," Clary says into his shirt.

"Yeah you guys shouldn't have to do this alone." As he lets go, Charlotte could see the similarities in both of their conditions. Both looked tired and sick, yet they weren't. Maybe both were just still freaked after getting kidnapped, or they got sick from something.

"Are you sure you're feeling up for this?" Clary asks Simon.

"Yeah, it's just a cold. Not the end of the world."

"Wow, what about me, Clary?" Charlotte jokes.

Simultaneously, Alec buts in, "The world's been ending for a thousand years." Charlotte turns slightly to Alec with an incredulous look on her face.

"Oh my god! Are you always like this?"

"Always." Charlotte scoffs and shakes her head at Alec's smug face. "Ah, you get used to it. Now we need to move."

"Yeah my mom's loft is just across the alley." Clary tells him pointing to the direction of the loft.

"Alright well we have to be careful. There are eyes all over this place and everybody in the shadow world's looking for you." 

Charlotte looked around the area, it felt like a normal day. It was strange to realize that people were watching them, ready to possibly strike. Everyone was after Clary now, Charlotte felt like a pawn in all this. She knew she was, she got kidnapped not long after helping Clary by vampires. But a part of her did not want to admit it to Clary just yet that she could not handle this world. 

"I mean, I guarantee you, no one's gonna find this shortcut. I used to take it with Charlie back in middle school to see Clary," Simon informs Alec as Clary smiles remembering those moments. "You might know the shadow world, but trust me... I know Brooklyn."

"Yeah Si, I think all the Brooklyn enemies will know Brooklyn too. Let's just hope they get stumped by a middle schooler's short cut. Come on, guys." Charlotte says as Simon starts to run with a wide grin on his face. "Simon! No running! I hate it." Simon jumps over the wall covered in vines and weeds with ease causing the three to look in surprise. Clary scoffs lightly while Charlotte's eyes widen in shock with a wide mouth. "What the hell was that?!" She walks over and looks up the wall that was pretty taller than her. "I hate him," she mumbles to herself knowing she would not willingly jump like that. 

She turns to Alec with a sweet smile.

"Alec, I'm not gonna parkour like my brother, so come on." She waves him over and nods slightly. Clary chuckles as she herself jumps over the wall. Alec sighs and holds his hands low so Charlotte could lift herself up by stepping. He boosts her up so she can sit on top of the wall as she struggles. "Not so hard, dude, I know I'm light but damn." Alec shakes his head and jumps over the wall seeing Charlotte was already by her brother and Clary. "Come on, we're waiting." Alec thought nothing of it and catches up with them. 

They trudged through the short cut as they finally make it to the ladder. Charlotte remembered when she'd climb the ladder and on rainy days she'd almost slip, but wouldn't be afraid. Her brother would be below, carrying her bag because it was too heavy with unnecessary books. To her all the books were necessary just in case. Now a days she didn't have time or anything to bring a book with. All her books and journals were at home.

"Have you been doing parkour or something?" Clary asks Simon as he jumps up to the ladder.

"Yeah, show off. You spend a few days away and now you can jump around like Spiderman." Charlotte comments. Clary starts climbing next as Charlotte examines her heeled boots. "So you can fight and climb in heels, I don't get it." Charlotte climbs after Clary with ease as she quickly pulls herself up to the top with them, Alec following in pursuit. 

"You're getting a lot better at this," Simon says looking back at Clary. 

"I was just going to say the same thing about you. And Charlotte always struggled, now she flies up." 

"Funny." Charlotte mumbles, avoiding getting hit in the face by the vibrant green leaves spread on the stairs. 

"Climbing a fire escape excites mundanes. I'll never understand these people." Alec says to himself. 

"Trust me, I don't even understand us." Charlotte says to him as they make it to the top.

"Whoa. I don't remember it like this." The four of them observe the runes across the walls. 

"These are runes and wards of protection cast by a warlock," Alec explains. Charlotte past the two and looked at the coloring of the runes on the brick. "Some of these have been here for years."

"The only difference is now I can actually see them." 

"Yo Clary, what are all these tags?" Simon asks her. 

"You can see the runes?" Alec wonders. Charlotte scoffs.

"Pretty hard to miss." Charlotte tells Alec. Simon nods in agreement, crossing his arms against his chest. Alec sees the girl trace the bright runes with her finger. He never noticed when or if she ever got the sight, she wasn't a priority at the institute, yet this was strange out here.

"For shadowhunters. They should be invisible to most mundanes. When did you two get the sight?" Alec questions them as he gets closer to the twins.

"I don't know," Simon answers for them. "But whoever drew these should take some lessons from Clary. Their, uh, work is pretty sloppy."

"Duh, cause Clary's is awesome." 

Clary smiled at her friends before turning to the painted heart. She touched it gingerly, with a soft look on her face. "This is when Simon and I were engaged to be married."

"You were engaged? I'm almost certain I don't want to hear this story-"

"We were eight years old." Charlotte laughs out loud as she leans against Alec. 

"Sorry, buddy story time," she laughs out, a snort or two coming out. Alec gives up, waving his arm in the air and looks away in annoyance and turned to look down at Charlotte. 

"Are they serious?"

"Oh yes, deadly," she says trying to hide her laughter.

"That was a whole other world ago." Clary smiles at Simon with warm eyes and moves onto the door to the side. 

"Oh look, underneath Alec." Alec looks below to see in terrible writing underneath the heart some words that an eight year old should not know.

"Let me guess, you're the creator?"

"Bingo." She laughs again and moves on as Clary still struggles with the door.

"There's still one flaw in your plan, Simon." 

"Well, you're not trying hard enough," Charlotte tells Clary. 

"Here let me try." Simon goes to the door and grabs the knob, throwing the door open with a crash. Charlotte looks to Alec to see if she was the only one shocked. "After you." Clary heads in with Alec and Charlotte behind. "Ooh, after me," Simon says to Alec patting him on the chest and going through.

"I don't know who raised him like that, sure wasn't our mom," Charlotte says out loud as she then gives him a reassuring pat and then passes Alec. Alec sighed knowing this would be a long day with the Lewis twins. 

As they make it to Clary's room, already Charlotte could see the crispy layers and burnt pieces in her room. "Holy, Clary. Who torched your loft? Yeah I can see that too." Charlotte looked around in sadness. All the nights she spent in the loft were coming back to her.  "You okay?" Simon asks Clary who looked at a picture.

"There's nothing left of me here."

"Of course there isn't. Your mother was trying to erase any trace that you existed. So that you couldn't be tracked. She was protecting you." 

"Well let's see how well that worked."

"You're still alive, aren't you?" 

"What about the box guys?" Charlotte asks remembering the mission of this field trip. Simon's foot moved back and forth and Charlotte groaned. "Oh my god, Simon, what are you doing?"

"These floorboards," Simon brings up, his foot creaking the floor, "they sound different in two spots." 

"Okay, Si, we get it you found something, what's under there?" Charlotte asks. The two shadowhunters glance at each other and at then the twins as Simon's foot is quietly moving across the floorboards. Simon goes down and starts to pick the floorboard up.

"Another score for Brooklyn." 

As Simon was about to check inside, Alec pushes him slightly saying, "Hey, out of the way."

"You're welcome." Alec feels around beneath the floor until he finally feels something. He pulls out a dusty ornate box and hands it to Clary.

"Is this the box you remember?"

"Yeah. She used to wait til she thought I was asleep and then take it out."

"Well, let's open it." Charlotte holds Clary's arm, rubbing it comfortingly as Clary then opens the box with the initials JC. The blue felt held little objects that made Clary visibly confused.

"I don't know what any of this is." A shattering sound from outside gets the attention of the group. Alec moves forward in front of the three. 

"There's someone here. Get what you need. Do not move until I get back." He orders them as he leaves through the door onto the fire escape. Clary puts the box in her bag as Charlotte moves toward the door. 

"Are we sure we should let him go alone? What if he gets ambushed?" Charlotte asks while peaking out.

"Alec told us to stay here, I'm going to listen to him this time," Clary says while looking around her room. 

"Yeah he's a big boy. He can handle himself," Simon agrees. "Charlotte," he whispers as she slips out of the door quietly. 

She could see hints of things moving, the vines across the walls whipped around with the movements."Hey!" A clattering inside made Charlotte turn to see Clary and Simon scuffling with two men. She looks inside to see handcuffs placed on the two.

"There's another girl." One of the men say.

"We have her, we don't need that one too, let's go. They've been arrested, kid, don't wait up." The other says as they drag Simon and Clary out with them struggling. 

"Alec!" She yells. The men race down with the teens with Charlotte on their tail, being ignored as she bombards them with questions. She kept close yet not enough as she feared what they could do to her if she got too close. She had no powers or strength. 

They ran across the street with them, making their way before a large white truck passes them almost hitting Charlotte. She turns back to see a wolf run by with Alec speeding to the sidewalk. Alec sees Clary and Simon pushed into a car and driven off away. He ran his hands through his hair in distress as he looks all around. He made a promise to Jace and it was broken now. "I can't believe this happened! They said they didn't need me, like I'm not kidnapped this time, but I thought I'd like it more."

"Charlotte." Alec says in a calming tone, yet his own mind was filled with similar destructive thoughts. 

"This is my fault, oh god! What are we gonna do?" She starts to pace back and forth before Alec drags her back into the alley.

"Stop! This is not helping. We'll get them back." He took out his phone and started texting Jace, not looking at the mundane. He explained what happened to Clary and then promptly put it away. As he looked away he saw the girl sitting on the cold cobblestone ground below the fire escape. She sat silently and had her hands on the side of her head. "Come on, we'll go inside and wait," he says as he walks towards her. He sees she makes no movement in his peripheral vision. "Charlotte?" He looks back at her and sighs. "We have no time, mundane."

She nods and gets up without making eye contact with him and follows him up the fire escape, trying to forget how they were just going up with her brother and Clary. As they reach her room Charlotte sits on the destroyed bed while Alec paces around. She lifts her glasses and wipes the tears of frustration from her eyes that cloud her vision. 

She hears a crash and looks back to see papers flying away from Alec throwing something. "I'm sorry," he simply says. He notices her wet face yet says nothing of it. "I'm sorry," he repeats before sighing. After some time passed, Charlotte wipes her face quickly as Izzy and Jace make their way in the room. There were no more silent tears but a red nose and elements of sadness.

"Where is she? Where's Clary?" Jace asks Alec, rushing to him in urgency. Izzy looks to the side to see Charlotte alone with puffy eyes. 

"She's gone," Alec answers.

She knew that the shadowhunters saw emotion as a distraction, just like what Alec said. But she already let her brother go once, and now he was taken again, but this time she wasn't there with him. Clary was gone too, and she pathetically let these men take them. How could she let that happen? She hated the guilty feeling she had because of her weakness.

"What do you mean gone?" Izzy asks.

"She and Simon got arrested while I was securing the fire escape. I got distracted," Alec stutters out. Charlotte always saw him uptight and stern, yet now he never more seemed like her age than now. She forgot he was a teen like her when he took so much responsibility. 

"The mundane was here?" Jace asks, fuming. 

"Yes, does that really matter? What matters is they're gone." Charlotte speaks up as she stands from the bed. She wanted them to ignore her emotions which she's sure they would. Izzy looked saddened as she stood beside her mundane friend. 

"It was an unmarked car. I don't know where they took her." 

Jace leans in close to Alec as he whispers menacingly, "What did you do, Alec?"

Charlotte scoffs at him as he stood in anger. "He didn't do anything! They were trying to distract us on purpose probably by breaking something outside! I saw the thing moving out there when I went to look! They wanted Clary, they said that themselves," Charlotte tries to explain in Alec's defense. She knew he only did what he could.

Jace breathes out heavily as he then grabs an object from Clary's dresser and out the door. Izzy grabs Clary's bag from the bed and grabs Charlotte's wrist. "Let's go. We'll get them." Charlotte looks back at Alec on her way out with a sympathetic glance. 

Charlotte sits down on the stairs while Jace tries to track Clary, but sighs angrily in defeat. "She's not showing up. We need to parabatai track." The two join hands with the paper in between as Izzy continues to try and make calls. Charlotte felt more useless than ever, was this how Clary felt when she and Simon were taken? Did she feel just as powerless? "Alec, concentrate!" She hears Jace say, taking her out of her thoughts. A few moments pass, Charlotte could feel the tension between the two in their tracking. "Alec!" 

"I'm doing it. She's not showing up." 

"Just as I thought. She wasn't arrested," Izzy says walking up to her brothers.

"I knew it!" Charlotte yells out, running her hands through her mid length hair. Jace glared at Alec as he steps forward. 

"It was your job to look after her."

"I did my best, Jace."

"Then maybe your mother was right, and your best just isn't good enough."

"Jace!" "Hey!" The Lightwood siblings says simultaneously. Alec, angry with Jace leans in.

"Are you so blinded by your feelings for Clary, you've lost sight of us?"

"Are we seriously arguing right now?! Again?!" Charlotte yells standing up from the staircase. The three of them never saw Charlotte get this angry before. "Is that what you guys do when something bad happens? Just freak out and blame everyone, cause it's pathetic. Jace, how about you listen to him?" 

Jace clenched his jaw and decided not to snap at Charlotte. She knew Clary for a long time, and her twin was gone as well. He turned his head to Alec and stayed quiet. "Clary snuck out with Charlotte. I went after her... to protect her. I did nothing you haven't done a thousand times before."

"Yes you did. You lost her." 

"Are you serious?!" Charlotte snaps as she clenches her fists. She felt like she wanted to scream. She could have changed so much, but she led herself to this moment. Maybe if she did something different then they would not have gotten kidnapped again. What if they got hurt and she couldn't do anything? Her brother got hurt before and she let him just walk off. All she could think was, Charlotte you're an idiot.

"Enough, both of you," Izzy cuts in. 

Alec walks away as Jace breathes heavily. He goes over to Charlotte and leans in. "What did you see exactly, mundane?" He asks. 

"Don't get in my face like I'm the bad guy here. Stop trying to blame everyone." Charlotte snarls out. Izzy sighs as Jace was making enemies left and right to find Clary. "Two guys came in and arrested them, but they weren't normal. They were saying how they had her and they didn't need me. There was three of us and two of them, so they just took them while I was outside."

"That's not good enough, I need more! You saw something!" 

"Jace!" 

"What do you want me to tell you?! Do you want a sketch of them?! Do you want me to track them?! Because you surely couldn't!" 

"Charlotte!" Izzy yells trying to keep the peace between everyone yet still defend her brother.

"I already blame myself! I don't need you to as well!" Charlotte yells, her face getting red. She would not cry. 

"Then you and Alec both screwed up and lost her!" Charlotte lifted her hand and sent a punch to his face. 

"Charlotte, stop!" Jace felt the impact in his cheek not realizing how strong the mundane was. He didn't fall yet stumbled back a bit. She closed her fists and pounded on his chest, pushing him back, he almost flew back upon impact. She was letting her frustration out, that Jace and Izzy could tell. "Come on, Charlotte. Walk with me." Izzy grabbed the girl by her shoulders and took her away from Jace. "It's okay, Charlie. We're going to find them." 

"I couldn't do anything, Izzy. I went after them but what could I do? I'm stupid to think I could be here with you all. Like you guys said, I'm a mundane." She paused and wiped her face from the exhaustion. "Maybe I should have went with Simon. It was a mistake to stay, he was right. Look what happens when we go with you guys. We get kidnapped, almost attacked, all because we're near the danger."

"We'll protect you guys. And we'll find Simon, he'll be okay."

"This time," Charlotte says out of the blue, "but what about the next time?"

By the time the group calmed down, there was still time. They stood by the staircase, Charlotte leaning on the truck next to Alec who paced around. "Whoever took Clary and Simon must be holding them over a body of water. That's why our tracking rune won't work."

"They did kind of smell like water, and grease maybe." Charlotte says wiping her hand over her eyes. She sighs in frustration, grabbing her sides. The guilt still was eating at her from the inside. If, when she saw her brother again she didn't know if she would let go. 

Charlotte's phone starts to ring as the three shadowhunters look at her with wide eyes. "Who is it?" Izzy asks.

"I don't know, it's an unknown number," she answers anyway knowing it could be anybody. "Hello? Who is this?" She asks. 

"Oh thank god, Charlie." She hears Simon.

"Simon?!" The shadowhunters perk up at hearing the girl say her brother's name and get closer to her.

"Put it on speaker," Jace demands. Charlotte takes the phone from her ear and holds it in the middle of the group for everyone to hear on speaker. "Simon?" 

"Oh, I thought I'd never utter these words, but thank god it's you," Simon pants out.

"Oh thank god, Simon. Are you okay? I'm sorry," Charlotte stutters out.

"It's fine, Charlie. Don't worry, I'm glad I remembered your number." 

Jace leans closer so he can be heard. "Where are you? Where's Clary?"

"I don't know, some Chinese restaurant, I think?"

"I knew I smelt grease or something." 

Simon continued as he looks around the place he's held. "The cop, Alaric arrested us but it was a total fake out. Him and his buddy they took us, they took us to their hangout and then they told Clary that they'll kill her if they don't find the Cup."

"Just calm down, alright? Tell us what you see."

"Okay uh, uh we're definitely on a pier. There's a ton of water," Simon explains as Alec and Jace glance up at each other. "I see lockers, oh my. I'm in some sort of torture chamber. There's claw marks all over the wall."

"A torture chamber?!" Charlotte cries out. 

"Werewolves." Charlotte looks to Izzy with wide eyes as Alec agrees.

"That's possible."

"Okay, Simon, you need to get more specific. Tell us what you see. Help us find you." 

"There's nothing else that can help-" Simon cuts himself off as Charlotte looks up at the shadowhunters.

"It's okay Simon, just focus," she gently reminds her brother.

"No, I think I found something. I'm at the Jade Wolf Chinese Restaurant on the pier at Greene St. And they have really inexpensive cocktails."

"Jade Wolf and werewolves?" Charlotte rolls her eyes. "How unoriginal." 

"Just hurry!" 

"You need to create a distraction. Stall them," Jace orders. 

"How? All I have is clothes and a lighter."

"Start a fire, Simon," Charlotte says, her devious expression coming onto her face.

"That never works. You've seen enough action movies with me to know that, Charlie." Jace sighs and reaches down for the phone. 

"Do it! We're on our way." He hangs up the phone, shoving it into Charlotte's hands. She puts her phone back into her pocket, and ties her hair up. Even without any powers, she was ready to get her brother and friend from whoever took them.

___

A/N: Hey guys this is sort of a short ish chapter but I hope you like it! The next chapter will probably finish the episode Moo Shu To Go. I wanted to update again cause I had some ready already. So vote and comment! I appreciate it all so much and it's great to get so much support.

Questions

How do you feel about Charlotte defending Alec? Potential Brotp from this chapter? :D I love writing their scenes together, some frustrated siblings

Who are you excited to see Charlotte interact with more? 

And I'm thinking of making Magnotte the ship name for Magnus and Charlotte, a comment inspired this :)

So thank you all again, I'll try to update again soon, keep reading!