"Casey where's your brother?" His father asked and Casey's eyebrows furrowed.

"In a coffin six feet under." Casey whispered, confused as to why he brought him up.

"They didn't tell you." Valentine sighed and shook his head at Clary almost as if he was disappointed. Simon shoved Casey behind him yelling 'stay away from him'. Casey stood frozen as Valentine shoved Simon to the floor and then Isabelle when she attempted to attack him.

He felt paralysed and his skull felt it was about to explode as his brain made a million assumptions before coming up with a million more. Jonathan was dead. That was that.

"Stop." Casey turned to see Jace enter, his seraph blade raised. "I'm not letting you get away this time."

"Finally ready to kill your own father?" Valentine inquired and Casey stepped forward, shrugging off his sisters touch. Valentine turned back to face his eldest son and his face softened ever so slightly as he saw the confusion upon his sons face. "Casey, Jace is Jonathan." He told him.

The room was completely silent as all eyes were on Casey. His eyes moved from his father's figure to Jace's. He analysed his honey blonde hair and his gold eyes. He tried to match up his memories of Jonathan with the young man who stood before him, but he couldn't.

"That's not Jonathan." His voice was barely a whisper. He did not say the statement to anyone in particular, s
he merely needed to say it. Assuming that his son was in denial, Valentine spoke again.

"Casey darling, I know this is difficult -"

"Nothing about this is difficult." Said Casey, whirling round to face his father. His ebony curls spilled down her forehead as he raised his right hand and pointed at Jace in an almost accusing manner. "That is not Jonathan and that is final. He is Jace Wayland, son of Michael Wayland. My brother is Jonathan Morgenstern, son of Valentine Morgenstern and he is dead."

"Are you sure about that?" Valentine inquired ever so softly, his voice like velvet as he tilted his head.

"Do not attempt to manipulate me father. Jonathan did not have gold hair and gold eyes. His hair was a blonde so pale that it blended in with the petals of the daisies that grew in out meadow. His eyes were a brown so dark that they matched the night sky in winter. I know my brother, I love my brother. And Jace is not my brother by blood." His jaw was clenched as tears flowed freely down his face like tiny crystals.

Valentine had opened an old wound that had never truly healed, and as everyone in the room watched Casey they knew that it may be impossible to ever stitch it back up.

"You lost Jonathan once Casey, I know that." Valentine told his son, approaching the situation from a different angle. "And I also know that you carried that guilt with you. You blame yourself for what happened, for losing him. But you blame someone else don't you?"

"Stop." Casey pleaded and Alec struggled in the arms of one of the circle members in an attempt to get to Casey as he say the tears continue to stream down his cheeks before pooling at his feet.

"Don't you Casey?" Valentine pressed, almost taunting his son. "Who do you blame?"

"Stop it."

"Who do you blame Casey?" Valentine roared and Casey snapped.

"My mother." He screamed and Valentine smiled smugly. "I blame my mum." Her voice was softer this time and he dropped his head, almost as if he had just realised that.

"Yes." Valentine nodded. "You blame Jocelyn because she was the one who took you away from Jonathan. You still remember the day don't you Casey? How did your mother get you to leave?"

Casey raised his head and looked at Jace who had tears dripping down his own face as he watched his best friend - and apparently brother - shatter before him. "Mum told me that we were playing a game. Jonathan loved games, he and I used to play all day. So I believed her. I believed her when she said that we were playing hide and seek and I went with her." He found it almost painful to now look at Jace so she turned back to Valentine, gritting his teeth. "Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Casey you say that as if I want you to be in pain. You are my son. You remember our home, how I used to watch you and Jonathan play tag in the meadow. We can have that again."

Casey furiously wiped the tears from his cheeks and shook his head violently. "I'm too old for games father, and Jonathan is dead."

"Casey, it's true." Jace spoke from the end of the room and Casey shook his head again, stumbling slightly.

"You believe him. You have allowed him to manipulate you into believing that you are his son, my brother. Clary's brother. You believe this man who is known for infamously instead of me. You let him gnaw on your mind and poison you from within. You let him tear you and Clary apart with the most devastating lie that would ensure the two of you would be miserable and without each others love. And now you try to make me believe it. No I won't. Jace I love you, but you are not my Jonathan. You never have been."

"Casey -" Valentine sighed, after his son had finished addressing Jace.

"And you." Casey interupted, narrowing his eyes at his father. "Everyone told me about you. They spoke the truth but I ignored them. I ignored everyone - Jace, Clary, Isabelle, Simon, Alec, Raphael, Luke - I ignored them all. I even ignored my own mother. And why? Because I wanted to believe that you were my father. And I don't mean my biological father. I mean the man who let me put flower crowns on his head and carried me through the woods on his shoulders when I was too tired to keep up. You asked me yourself to save you. In another timeline, you told me not to give up on you. And I didn't, and I'm not now because there's no one to give up on. The man I loved and called my father is dead, and I will not be manipulated into thinking otherwise."

And for the first time since Valentine entered that room, he genuinely seemed in pain. He had now lost the one person that he truly still loved. "Casey I know I am not the same man, I know that. But I am still you father, Jonathan's father, Clary's father. And I still love you."

"Clary has never known you, Jonathan is dead and I don't need you anymore. I am not that same scared little boy who cried over what he once had. I've grown up, and I can let go of you. Of Jonathan. I see that now."

"But you don't have to." Valentine exclaimed. "Don't you see that Casey? I am here, Jonathan is here. You have found what you once lost, and it can be yours again."

"That's not Jonathan." Casey argued, but as he locked eyes with Jace he looked into his eyes and saw that he truly believed that he was Jonathan Morgenstern.

"Casey I am Jonathan." Jace said softly as he approached him. Tears blurred his vision as Jace pushed a lock of his hair away from his face and took his hands in his. "I know I'm not how you remember, and honestly I don't remember you from my childhood at all, but then again my memory was supposedly wiped. And Jace is just a nickname, short for Jonathan Christopher. Valentine is my father, and you are my brother. I have to go with Valentine, that's non negotiable. But knowing that even through all this hell I have you makes it okay. The only light at the end of this very long and very dark tunnel is you Casey. Finding out that my best friend is my  brother, that's the only good thing I have to hold on to right now. And that's enough."

And that was when Casey broke. A strangled cry broke through the air as he fell into Jace's arms, clingling onto him. He caught him easily, and everyone's heart broke at the sight before them. They had always known Casey to be strong, protective and even a bit of a bitch some of the time. And yet there he was, revealing how truly broken he was to the only person who could fix him. Jonathan had caused this pain, this heartbreak and only Jonathan could fix it.

"I can't." He breathed in a ragged tone, his words coming out in a flurry as he struggled to calm herself. "You can't be him. You were here all along. I should've known, I would've known. How could I have not known?"

"Casey it's okay." Jace promised as he Casey stepped back, no longer sure what to believe.

"Casey." Valentine interupted, but Casey wouldn't meet his eyes. Instead he looked at Alec, at his sapphire eyes that he could look into forever and his arms that when wrapped around him told him he was home. He smiled at her and that last piece of him shattered.

"You say Jace is not Jonathan, and yet he says he is. He's leaving with me, there's no arguing there, your friends have already tried. Honestly, it nearly got them killed. So here's the question I ask you, are you so sure that he's not Jonathan that you're willing to let him walk out of here with me and lose him all over again. Only this time you will know that there was something you could've done. You know that you could've went with me and been with him."

The smiled fell off Alec's face as Valentine finished speaking and he shook his head. He was already losing his parabatai, he couldn't let Casey leave. It would kill him.

"Casey, I need you to answer me. Are you so sure that Jace isn't Jonathan that you'd let him walk away?"

"No." Casey admitted, turning to face her father again. "No I'm not."

"Casey no." Clary shouted. "Jace, Casey neither of you have to do this."

"Be quiet Clary. This is my choice." Casey spoke, silencing his sister. "Once upon a time I swore that if I ever found Jonathan I would never let him go again. And no, I'm still not sure if it's true. But if there's the slightest possibility that I can have my brother back, that you Jace are my brother - then I can't let you go. Not again." He told Jace. "I'll go with you." Casey then informed Valentine.

"Casey no." Alec roared, trying to break the iron grip the circle member had on him. "Casey please don't leave me." He looked like a small child as he pleaded, tears pooling in his sapphire eyes making them sparkle. He walked over to him, and placed his hand on his cheek.

"Don't cry Alec, please. Enough tears have been shed today." Casey pleaded and Alec struggled to hold back his tears.

"I can't lose you Casey. Not again."

"You aren't losing me Alec." Casey promised. "I'm coming home. Because you are my home. And I will burn down the whole world to get back to you. I'll look after Jace, and I'll bring him back. "

"You don't have to do this." Alec argued.

"I know." Casey whispered as he rested her forehead against his. Alec wanted to close his eyes, to savour his touch even if he was being restrained, but he wanted to see his face for as long as he could. He wanted to engrave in his mind how his ebony hair smelled of lavender and how his laughter sounded like the most beautiful melody. He never wanted to forget how his smile was more breathtaking than any sunset and how his eyes were more alluring than a kaleidoscope.

"I love you." He told him and his heart fluttered as he saw his smile once more. "I love you too Alec Lightwood. More than I thought I could ever love anyone. You changed me Alec, changed me for the better. I was meant to go to that club, and I was meant to meet you there even surrounded by all those demons trying to kill us."

"It'll be one to tell the kids." Alec laughed and then his eyes widened as he realised what he had said. But all his fears melted away as his smile grew and he nodded. "Yeah it is one to tell the kids." He agreed and kissed him. His lips left his too soon and he was then walking away from him. He tried to reach him, but the distance between them increased and he knew that he couldn't reach him, not in time.

Casey stood beside Jace who held his hand out to him. He intertwined their hands and looked into his eyes. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.

"Yes." Casey confirmed. He turned to face Clary to see him struggling in Simon's arms. She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't be losing Jace and Casey, she couldn't.

"Casey, Jace please. This is stupid. Don't go please. " She pleaded.

"Tell mum I'm sorry." Casey told his sister. "And tell her I love her."

"Casey no." Clary screamed as Casey and Jace disappeared through the portal, hands intertwined as the purple mist swallowed them. Clary broke from Simon's grasp and ran for the portal, yearning for her brother. Alec intercepted her and grabbed her by the waist, bringing her to a halt.

"What are you doing?" Clary screamed as her tiny fists hit Alec, but had no effect on him.

"Saving your life." He replied gruffly. "If you walk into a portal not knowing where you're going you end up in limbo forever."

Simon walked over and took Clary from Alec, leaving him alone to stare at the empty doorway where his boyfriend once stood. He sank to his knees, and Isabelle knelt beside him, resting her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around his abdomen.

"We'll get him back Alec. We'll get them both back." Isabelle promised. He barely heard her words, his broken heart had dulled all his senses.

He had lost him.

He was gone.

---

a/n

that's it. Lonely Hearts is officially over. Thank you so so much for being here throughout this journey and for all your amazing and supportive comments, your votes and for reading this book!

There will be a sequel 'Broken Hearts' and the prologue for that will be up later tonight. Honestly, I think that Casey will probably have a book for every season of the show - depending on how many they get but if they are repeatedly renewed I think it's loosely a book per season but I'm not sure - and so I'll probably make it a series.

I was going to do the little part at the end where Jace is standing with Valentine on the docks but I felt that this ending was more dramatic and a contrast considering the book began with how Casey was feeling and it ended with how Alec was feeling.

So I hope you have all enjoyed this story and as I said the prologue of book 2 will be up later for tonight but a chapter won't be up until 2017 when s2 begins.