"Where do you think you're going?" Maryse asked Alec as soon as she saw him walking into the kitchen. "School, where else?" He replied as he grabbed an apple from the fruit basket and bite it down. "Alec you can't, you know what the doctor said." His mother insisted but she knew well how Alec feels about keeping him inside the house.

"I'm fine mum. I won't run, I won't force myself and if I feel tired, I will take rest in the nurse's office. I promise." He said and grabbed his bag from the counter at the same time Jace walked in, "Ready?" He asked and he nodded.

He went to his mum side and kissed her on her cheek, "Don't worry too much." He whispered and Maryse sighed. "Have I always?" She replied and Alec snickered. Jace followed after kissing her on her cheek, "Look out for him." She whispered into Jace's ear, "I will mum, don't worry." He replied catching up with Alec and they both headed to school together.

"It's nice having you here with me." Jace finally said after a while of silence in the car. They rolled the window down and the warm breeze of spring weather mixing with summer sprawled inside the car.

"What do you mean?" Alec asked as he brings his hand towards his forehead and pushed his hair back from the wind. "I miss going to school with you." He answered and Alec snorted. "You have Isabelle, what's the different?" He pushed but Jace scoffed in disagreement, "Have you forgotten what is like to ride with Izzy? She will control the music selection and sing her annoying voice out till we get there, plus she will dragged us to the coffee shop before school. Like hell I'm going to spend that much of money over a drink that doesn't taste like coffee and sounds even ridiculously the same."

Alec laughter brings the whole mood in the car even better and Jace joined him after. "You and I both brother." He said as Jace starts to pull in the parking lot. "Ready?" He asked as Alec opened the car door and climbed out with a nod.

The school was the same despite everything now seems a bit rush to Alec. He felt how he wished he had a time machine that could change his life, to bring back his time and not being in the car with his parents or fast forward it till graduation.

The thoughts scares him that he might not able to enjoy his life as much as he should. He will never get to feel how to fall in love, or even had sex, he might be a high school senior but he still is a virgin. He never get to drink alcohol or gone to a party and enjoy life in college, he never get to see his siblings got married, have kids. He will never have kids on his own.

The thoughts made him feel like the area getting smaller and smaller and he leaned against the car for support. "Alec." Jace called standing by his side holding his shoulder, "Are you okay? Oh god, mum is gonna kill me." He said with fear clearly on his face while he's looking around for help but when Alec met Jace's eyes, he never thought how people around him walked around like stepping on an eggshells. They were afraid of how fragile his being is.

"I'm fine Jace. Just my thoughts are messing with me." He replied sliding his bag on his shoulder. He walked past him headed to the front door with all the kids around him, walking past him looking at him as if he's an alien. He hated school kids being immature around him but again, they did witnessed him being dragged out here on an ambulance a few months ago. They thought that he might be already gone, they probably thought he's dead but here he is standing tall and proud of himself for able to come back here.

"The fuck you guys looking at?" Jace called behind him in anger and walked beside him. "Glad you still have your sense of asshole." Alec replied with Jace smirked beside him as they both walked inside and faced the day.

As the day went, they are finally at their last class and when the bell rings, Alec never felt happier. He was exhausted and his mother was right, he should have stayed home and rest instead of coming here but he and his usual stubborn self won't have it other way.

"What's up Lightwood?" A voice called behind him and he recognized it well, it was his team member for their basketball group. He sighed as he slide his book inside the locker and slammed it shut. He turned and saw the boy stood in front of him with the slick back haircut and his blonde hair with a jeans cut jacket and white shirt underneath. He looks handsome as he always does but Alec hated him since the day they met.

"What's up Evan." He put his hand in his pants pocket looking to the side not wanting to see Evan in his eyes. "You looked like the dead." Evan mock and the rest of his gang snickered and they fist bumped each other in pride.

"Bet I still can beat ya in the court." Alec replied back scoffing his bad boy attitude. "Would love to see that soon, if you think you have the balls for it." He snapped back and Alec smirked. "What? The thing between my leg? You wouldn't dream of having one of those Evan." He snapped back and the look on Evan's face shows how bad this is going to be.

"If you got more balls than mine, you would joined us at the courtyard this evening for practices, you know, the thing you decided to left behind, like you did to your team." He mocks back and Alec's face frowned. He never wanted to left his team, he loves his team so much that he brought them to every championship they won't ever imagined would have won.

When he got sick, he couldn't be the captain anymore, he couldn't lead his team so he stepped down, telling his coach the real thing but never his team, he rather have them angry at him for leaving rather than to have them looked sorry for him. He had a lot of those at home already.

Evan came after and elected to be captain and they clicked, he was a good player but never as good as Alec, which explained why he hated Alec and always teasing him and bringing him down.

Alec couldn't take any of his mockery anymore so he took his bag and slide it on his shoulder, he glanced at Evan for the last time and stood few inches away from him. "Never let them down Evan, they look up to you from now on." He said and turned taking his long stride headed to the door.

From behind, he heard him yelled, "It was your fucking responsibilities, not mine Lightwood! Your team count on you and YOU let them down!" Alec chose to ignore his last comment and keep his face straight, he pushed the door opened and welcomed by the fresh air which he inhaled deeply before he exhaled them.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Jace asked as he finished his last sipped of water and throw them in the bin nearby before walking up to Alec. Alec smiled as they walked together to their car, "Nothing, just some encounter with the kids." He replied and Jace looked at him with a crooked eyebrow.

He chose to ignore him and drove home instead but Izzy texted them to meet up at the coffee house which at first Jace declined but Alec suggested they need few pair of shorts for the vacation so he agreed to it. So after picking up Izzy at the coffee house they all drove to the mall nearby. 

"I'm gonna buy this for Max." Izzy said as she pulled out a pair of swimming trunks, it was peach in color with red stripes marks on the side, it looks too attentive but they doubt Max would say anything.

"Isabelle you do know we have a younger brother not a younger sister right." Alec commented on how hideous the shorts were to him. For him black is the most ideal, no colors. Even their basketball team is black and white jersey, he doubt he would ever wear anything else but black.

"Oh come on, it looks fun. Max will love them." She said as she took few others for him and couple more for her. Alec warned if she'd dare to wear a two piece he will have her dragged down along the beach just to show people she's not available. She huffed and grabbed the one piece and decided to do some alterations on it later, Alec won't have to know about them.

"Izzy come on, are you done? It's almost two hours just for trunks, I need to get Alec home or mum's gonna kill us." Jace whined beside her as she picked a sunglasses for her and kept asking Alec if it nice on her face. He just nodded and shook not bother much on the details.

"Just few more minutes I promised." She said as she disappeared again behind the clothes rack. "If anything happened, its on you, you will have to answer to mum not me. You will take my punishment." He said again and Alec leaned against the wall looking at his sibling bickering.

"Hey, I'm right here you know, no one is in trouble." He added and Jace glared at him. "Tell that to your face, I know you're exhausted, come on Izzy!" He raised his voice a little.

Alec chose to ignore him and shook his head as he walked passed him, "I'll be at the food court, call me if you guys are done." He said as he walked and Jace huffed, "I'll be right up." He said after handing Izzy some money.

Alec was about to turn on the corner when he was bumped by something hard causing him to fall on the floor on his butt. "Fuck." He mutters under his breath. When he looked up the boy whom he just encounter was nothing like he'd ever seen before. His hair shining black pulled up, his face is Asian but Alec doubt he's some typical asian boy.

His clothes are different than what Alec's wearing. He had a suit on and from what Alec see, he might be attending a private school unlike him and his siblings, they all attended the public school like normal kids do. Behind the boy stood a guy that looked square to Alec, someone that could guard a city palace or the museum. 

The boy looked at him still sitting on the floor with an angry face, "Watch where you're going asshole." He said wiping his shirt as if Alec had ruined it. "Let me help you there sir." The guy stood behind him also wearing a suit but formal suit like he's going to a job interview offered out his hand which Alec took it gladly.

"Glad someone still had their manners, thank you." Alec snide dusting off his pants from the dirt and looked towards the boy's face. The look on his face shown he was intimidated by Alec's height and they are literally two feet away.

"Move." He barked at Alec's face and its kind of funny a midget like him can be so arrogant, Alec thought. "Why don't you hopped back to the North Pole little elf." Alec added tapping his shoulder but he flinched back. "The fuck did you said?" The boy angered by his comment and he couldn't hide his smirk seeing the boy so triggered by his words.

"Young master, let's not get in trouble, shall we." The guy spoke again and Alec looked at his face with a glare before returning them to the boy in front of him. "Yeah skippy." Alec added which he added more oil to the fire, he saw how he's clenching his fist on his side but he didn't expect the boy would pushed him again but this time harder.

"I would watch my fucking mouth if I were you! I will have my father screw your life till you scraped garbage out of the streets!" He snapped and Alec still having fun teasing him. "Aw, if we're not scraping the garbage who would have cleared the streets with all of your shit?" Alec commented and he was fuming. He wanted to launch his fist at him but the guy grabbed his arm and he was held back.

"Sir, your father will have you grounded for a year." He whispered but Alec still having his fun teasing him. "Awww, daddy grounded you." Alec said and the boy launched again. "Fuck you!" He spat.

"Hey!" A sudden voice boomed behind him and when he looked, Jace was running towards him. "The fuck you said to my brother asshole?" He said pushing the boy back. He was taken back by his sudden interference and wasn't ready to let go. "What is going on? Do you guys want to get arrested or something?" Izzy came behind Jace and stood beside him.

"I saw this guy pushed Alec and said mean word to him." Jace explained and Alec snorted at their behavior, his little savior. Little did they know, Alec won't need them for this fight, he was winning.

"What?" Izzy replied with her high pitch voice and the boy flinched. "Can you get anymore annoying? What is it with cockroaches who breed?" He added and Jace snapped. "The fuck did you call my siblings?" He pushed him back and the boy won't budge.

"You guys are pathetic to think you could touch me, you are nothing but a street scum." The boy said, alright that is enough for Alec to handle, he can say whatever he wants to him but not at his siblings. Jace pushed Izzy to the side and they all had one of their staring contest to see who's the stronger one there.

"From what I see, you're the pathetic one, wearing all money and think you could touch us. I would have your face messed up in a minute!" Jace barked and the boy still won't budge.

"Like your face any different than mine. Blonde isn't your color sweetheart, lay off the dye would ya." He said and Jace was about to punch him but Alec held him back. "Look Tyrion, you had your fun, why don't you run along and leave us alone. It looks like you need to find other people to play with." Alec added and Jace snorted at the name called.

"The fuck did you called me?" The boy asked with his one arm raised and ready to launch a punch but still held by the guy behind him. He was fighting him off but failed obviously since the guy was twice his strength.

"Enough sir, walked away, be the better man. They are just teenagers looking for fun." The guy whispered to him again and the boy nodded before exhaling a breath. "Fine." He said and as he looked at Alec's face, his nose is flaring. "Pray you don't get to see me again asshole, or you'll be sorry!" He said pointing his finger at both Alec and Jace and they raised their eyebrow at him.

"No one wants to break those perfectly manicured nails princess, don't hurt yourself walking into a wall or else." Alec said by the time the boy walked passed them and the boy stood his ground, stopping himself from going further.

What Alec didn't know was he wanted to punch him as he swing his body around but Jace got to it first and held his fist in his tight grip. "No one touches my brother." He said and the boy got even more angrier since he couldn't had his released. He pulled his hand away from Jace' death grip and walked away immediately.

They all cheered in happiness as Alec watched the boy disappear into the crowd. There was something about that boy but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Let's go home." Jace suggested and they all nodded, agreeing to it.

"It's that one of your bucket list Alec?" Izzy asked as they were inside the car. She sat at the back in between her brother as Jace drove out from the mall. Alec never thought of having a bucket list but now she mentioned them, surely he had few things he wanted to fulfill in his mind. But again the thought of not able to finish them hurts him deep, why bother make a list if he won't have enough time to do everything on it.

"Yeah." He shortly replied as he kept his gaze outside the window and Jace laughs. "It was fun though." He said and Izzy huffed crossing her arm on her chest while sit back on her seat. "Picking a fight, would be more fun if it involves fist and knees." He added and Alec smiled raising his fist at him and he bumped it with his.

"Men and their cocks never ceased to surprise me." She added shaking her head and both Alec and Jace laughs.

As they got home, Alec was beyond exhausted, he fell asleep in the car all the way till they reach their houses. It was already seven in the evening by the time they arrived and it's dinner time.

"Alec wake up." Jace shook his shoulder a bit and he startled by the wake up call. He exhaled a breath looking around before he undo his seatbelt. He pushed the door open and brought his legs down. He slammed the door shut and tried to walk to the door but his legs gives way and he had to held the car's side for support.

"Alec." Jace called running to his side, Isabelle run to his other side with the bags in her hand. "Are you okay?" Alec was leaning against the car as he looked like he's gonna passed out. "Tired." He whispered and Jace didn't think twice. He put Alec's arm around his shoulder and wrapped his arm around Alec's waist to support him. He helped him walked to the door slowly and Alec was weak as hell.

As they entered their house, his mother was at the kitchen preparing dinner and Robert was at the couch watching television with Max. "Dad!" Jace called and Robert turned his head to the side and caught Jace carrying Alec half awake by his side. "Alec?" He called as he run to his other side and grabbed his arm to put on his shoulder like Jace did. "What happened?" No one replied at the moment. 

"Come on let's get you into your room." Robert said and Jace nodded, Alec still trying to keep his eyes open as they carried him to his room, passing the kitchen and Maryse almost dropped her plates seeing Alec had to be carried to his room. "Alec?!" She called but he didn't answered, in her mind, a lot of things play in it and she couldn't keep the bad thoughts away.

She rushed towards the counter top and grabbed Alec's medicine box and quickly run towards his room.

Robert and Jace already placed Alec on the bed and removed his shoes. He lay on the bed and his breaths were uneven. It was a short and tired breaths and his eyes are fighting to close.

"Alexander. What happened?" Robert asked cupping his cheek and he was cold. "We went to the mall and bought couple of swimming trunks, then he got into a fight but-" Jace tried to explain but his mother cut him off first.

"He did what??? You have got to be kidding me? Why would you have him walked around the mall anyway? He should be here after school! Why don't you guys listen to me for once!" Maryse snapped and Jace was already at verge of crying. He knew it was his fault, he was at blame.

"N-not his fault." Alec whispered but his voice was too low, he doubted anyone heard him. "Out now! Both of you!" Maryse shouted and Jace backed away. "Mum I'm sorry." He tried to reason with Maryse but she won't have it, she didn't even look at him and started the oxygen machine by Alec's side and placed the mask on his head covering his nose bridge and his lower chin.

"I'm sorry Alec." Jace said as he walked out and closed the door of his room. Izzy came to his side and rubbed his arm up and down looking at him with pleaded look, "Why didn't you tell mum it was my idea? It was all my fault, it wasn't yours." Izzy said and Jace exhaled holding his tears at bay.

He shook his head and tapped Izzy on her shoulder before walked passed her and headed to his room. There he cried his eyes out holding a prayer beads in his hand that he purchased couple months after Alec had the accident, repeating his prayer for Alec. He knew it was silly but somehow it was the littlest hope he has over this years for his brother recovery.

It felt like hours since they got him and no one said anything. No one came to his room to check on him and no one tell anything that happened to Alec. Izzy stayed on the couch with Max since no one is there in the living room. He didn't questioned much only asked few question about Alec and understood when Izzy explained to him.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him." Alec said to his mother as she wiped the cold towel on his face. He was better after the oxygen and he was already off from using it. He was exhausted and he didn't take his medication yet but after it all he was okay, he assured both of his parents.

"He should know better." Maryse replied still holding her stern expression. "Maryse." Robert called but she won't budge.

"No! He need to grow up and learn how to take responsibilities. How many times do I have to tell him?" She added and placed the towel on the table next to his bed.

"He shouldn't be at all. This is not what he should do mum. He should be enjoying his year hanging out with his friends, going to parties, dating all the beautiful girls. Not to take care of me. I'm the older brother, I was the one who should be doing all of those, not the other way around." Alec said and Maryse kept her gaze towards the table.

Alec raised himself a bit to talk to her. "You hurt him deep mum. He has done everything, only what you asked him too, he deserved to feel his freedom too." Alec explained and slowly he could see his mother turning her gaze at him.

"I don't want my family to have this kind of relationship when I'm gone. He's your son too." Alec said and Maryse stared into his eyes. "IF - you're gone." She corrected and Alec sighed.

"When - I'm gone mum, it's not a matter of if anymore." He corrected her back. "Jace already felt guilty about this, don't pushed him harder or you'll lose not just one son, but two." He said and Maryse couldn't keep her tears when he said lose like it's as simple as that.

"I'm hungry." Alec said as they passed the silenced in the room. Robert smiled, nodding. "Me too, let's eat." He said and Maryse looked at him before she stood and wiped her cheeks. "Give me a minute to freshen up. I'll be downstairs, you help Alec to dinner table." She asked her husband and of course Robert would do them in a heartbeat but she loves delegating her task away like she did at the firm.

She climbed upstairs after bumping to Izzy and Max and smiled saying they could see their brother and noticed Jace wasn't there with them. She knew he's in his room so she walked directly to it. She knocked few times softly but no answers. So she decided to enter anyway.

Rules in the house was never to lock a door so she could entered easily and when she did the room is dark, too dark. So she trails her hand on the side wall and flicked the switch on. The room light with a luminescent light at the ceiling and saw Jace lying on the bed on his side with the prayer beads on his hand. He was hugging his body in a cold but still doesn't open his eyes.

Maryse went to his side and sat by his bedside staring at him. She stroked her blonde hair away from his forehead, he stirs in his sleep and his eyes flutters opened. "Mum?" He called and raised from his sleeping position. "How's Alec?" He asked concerned as he looked around his room.

"When did you get those?" She asked as she traced the beads with her fingers. Jace looked down and tried to hide the beads away but of course it would raised even more suspicion so he might as well come up with the truth.

"A couple of months after Alec-" he stopped himself. He couldn't bring his thought to the night of the accident, his brother in the surgery for almost ten hours, his mother and father in the ICU, they were on their own.

"I'm sorry mum." He said and Maryse shot her eyes up looking directly at him. "No, Jace it wasn't your fault. I know I wasn't being fair with you guys." She said and Jace kept silence. "The thought of losing Alec was unimaginable but I can't let that cloud my mind for my other children. I let you guys grow up before you should. This is not your responsibilities to handle alone, it was not fair to put the burden on you."

She raised her palm and cupped his cheek, he leaned against the warmth in her palm, "You're my son too, and I love you. I'm so sorry for the way I acted." She said and Jace couldn't let his tears from falling. She hold out her arms for him and he leaned for a hug. He wrapped his arm around his mother's body and whispered, "I love you too mum."

"Come on, let's go and eat. I made chicken risotto." She said and Jace smiled, wiping both of their faces off and headed downstairs. As soon as he enters, Alec was already sitting on the table with Izzy and Max, as he stepped in, Alec looked to his side with a smile on his face. He held out his arm for him and he went to hug him.

"I'm glad you're okay." He said and Alec smiled tapping his back in assurance. His face was paled but he was better than before. As he took his seat next to him, they started to eat and engaged into dinner conversation with Alec telling their parents what happened at the mall today.

Bane

"Fuck! Fucking asshole!!!" Magnus throws his tantrum on the furniture after they got home. Charles stood behind him hanging his bag away and put the stuffs they bought at the mall.

"You shouldn't have let him talk to me like that Charles. You should have let me punched that fucking giant and let him fall like a beanstalk!" He crashed another chair into the wall and it breaks.

"Well I would assure you if I did, we would have this conversation differently, probably with a glass separated us in between and you would have asked me quite an opposite questioned sir." He snide and Magnus glared at him. He didn't replied back, too exhausted, too angry to come up with another comment.

"There is something odd about that boy though." He added as he fixed the chair away from his path. "Yeah! The fact that they have a different sets of hair color and claimed to be siblings? Think I'm a fool." He said as he punched another on his wall.

"No. It was something like he doesn't care if anything happened to him, like he wanted to get in trouble. He kept coming at you." Charles commented and looked towards the balcony. "Whatever." Magnus huffed and sat on his bed with his hand buried in his head.

"But it would be nice though." He added after sometime he had calm himself down. "What is sir?" Charles questioned him.

"To have someone to call my brother and backed me up like they did." He said as he stared into the mess he created in front of him. Charles sighed walking slowly to his door before he leaves,

"Yes, it would." Was all he able to reply.