A Demon's Soul

[l altezza l]

Sam's eyes brightened when he saw her. "Willow!" Hannah left and he made room for Willow to come in. He ruffled his hair, remembering his messy room. "Sorry about the mess. It's been a while!" Clothes were thrown in piles all over the floor. His sheets hung halfway off the bed. Sam looked her over. "You look great!" He paused for a moment not really knowing why she was there. "What brings you here?"

Will followed Jace further into the library. Jace wasn't looking for the book. Will caught on to that. When Jace stopped far enough away from Alec, he stared at Will. He didn't know where to start. Will was a killer, but the guy standing in front of him wasn't that person. "I need to know some things first." Will furrowed his brows, just wanting to get this over with. He wanted to get back to Willow. But he knew he needed to get through to Jace. "Whatever. Ask away." When Jace knew he wouldn't be stubborn and that he was serious, he asked what he wanted to know.

"Why? Why did you leave Willow like that? You know Anthony's no good."
"I thought she'd be better off without me or any of this."
"So you're just following his orders. First it was Abby, then Hannah. Or you tried killing Hannah. Y'know I will never forgive you for that."
"I know. Let me make it up to you."
"The only way you could ever make that up is if you lose someone close to you..."
"I already had."
"Right. Don't make me laugh. I know how it goes for warlocks. They take away your memory and marks. I'm sure you didn't feel the same pain I felt when you lost Willow. You chose to have that happen to you."
"I felt it when I saw her again."
"That's not good enough."

Jace rose his voice. His fists clenched. When he checked to see if Alec might've heard him. When he didn't, he turned back to Will. Those blue eyes always caught him off guard now. He sighed heavily.

"The things Willow had told me, I thought she was finally done with you. But now I don't even know what to say about you two. She looks really good. Why do you even want your marks back? You can't even go back to downworld. If they find you, they'll just kill you instead. You don't need them."
"You don't understand."
"Oh yeah?"
"I need them. Ever since I got my memories back, without them, I feel like I'm already dead."
"What about Willow-"
"That's different! It's different... I've always lived like this. She hasn't. How could she possibly feel what I really feel? I love her and I love seeing her finally happy, but I can't keep feigning this happiness she thinks I have. I want to share that same happiness with her again."

Jace was silent for a long moment as he stared at his little brother. He knew what he meant, even if he didn't agree with it. He glanced around. "We do this, we're bound to each other. I need you to understand this. I can't be bound to someone connected to demons. This means James." Jace pierced him with his eyes. He knew how much James meant to Will over the years. It was painfully obvious. Will felt his stomach drop. Jace was making him choose, he just wasn't sure how far Will was willing to go to get his marks back. They both knew everything that James had done. Who he was related to. Jace wasn't giving James a chance, but he was giving his brother one. It didn't take long for Will to make a decision. "I understand. Let's do this." Jace was slightly shocked, but it quickly passed. Will was always selfish. But was it really bring selfish?

Jace turned away and found a small chest among the bookshelves. The lock was already broken from the last time someone- Abby checked out the book. Gabriel had been killed and never even knew. He pulled out an old, bound book and handed it to Will. "Don't make me regret this." Will took the book. "You won't." They rejoined Alec handed him the spell book. What did Will have to lose if he was bound with Jace? He had nothing to lose in downworld.

[SincerelyCookie]

Willow chuckled quietly. Sam's room was a mess. It reminded her just how much younger he was than her. It reminded her how innocent he was. Shaking the thought, she went and sat on the edge of his bed. That's right. Last time he saw her, she was less than one hundred pounds. "Thank you. My life has turned around quite a bit recently." She smiled, but it weakened quickly. What brought her here? What would Sam think of her when she told him she was back with Will? Sam, the boy who saved her all those years ago when Jace and Abby brought her to the institute for the first time. Sam, her first friend, the kid she loved like a little brother she never had. Willow ran a hand through her hair and worry slowly settled into her facial features. "Will brings me here. We got back together a few months ago and he's here to get his marks back." No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't look Sam in the eye. All she could think of was the nasty things he could possibly say to her. "Please don't be mad at me." Willow finally found the courage to look at Sam and felt her eyes water with unwanted tears.

Hannah made her way into the room to find Alec. Where had the boys gone? She sat opposite him and stared at him for a while. "So who are you?" Alec opened his eyes and for a moment, he wanted to laugh. He thought it was Willow. "I'm Alec. An old friend of Willow's, and a warlock." He smiled warmly, as if trying to be polite. It made him happy that the girls were finally getting along. "If you're Willow's friend, how could you let the two of them get back together?" Hannah looked at him quizzically. "Willow was killing herself. She wasn't meaning to, but she was. I mean you saw her! Will got her to eat and smile and be happy. I couldn't even get her to do any of that. I don't know the dark parts of them first getting back together, all I know was was that Willow was a piece of work when Will found her and he somehow got her to turn her life around. I can't tell her to leave him after he literally saved her from herself." Alec ran a hand through his hair. No matter how much he protested Willow and Will being back together, no matter how unhealthy it was, he knew Willow wouldn't survive being away from him. Hannah listened and took a moment to say anything. How was Willow so dependant on Will? "I don't understand how she became so dependant on him." Alec looked at her and sat up. "None of us know how bad Skylar treated her those seven months, not even Will knows. She won't talk about it. All we had was the physical evidence on her skin. She was depending on their love surviving and him coming back for her." Hannah looked at the ground. Jace drove all the way to Ohio on a whim and ended up saving her life. The whole ride to Ohio she had fought the urge to cry because she was separated from him. "Damn Ravenas." She sighed.

[l altezza l]

Sam stopped cleaning and stared at Willow. "Why would I get mad at you?" He chuckled quietly. He wondered what had happened to Will. He lost his marks. Was that why he no longer heard about him? Somehow Will and Willow were back together though. It was like they couldn't be torn apart. "It's alright." He put an arm around her. "I might not like him, but I know you can't live without each other." He smiled nervously.

Jace smiled slightly when he saw that Hannah joined them. Will handed Alec the book. He did it quickly before he hesitated. He kept telling himself that he loved Willow more than James. That he was doing the right thing. With or without marks, he still couldn't be around James nor downworld. What did that matter anymore? Will just wanted to be happy with Willow. He ran a hand through his hair. "Alright. There's your book." Jace looked from Hannah to Alec.

[SincerelyCookie]

Willow smiled when Sam put his arm around her. She wrapped both of hers around his torso and just closed her eyes. It distracted her from everything else going on. "Your room is a wreck Sam." Willow pulled back and laughed. Of course Sam wouldn't like him. Will set out to kill Sam. Even before that, Will would torture Sam. She often wondered how he dealt with everything. Willow got up and began fixing the sheets on his bed.

Alec looked up at Jace and Will came back. He took the book from Will's hand and breezed through it. A minute went by and Alec paused on a page. His finger was scanning the page, as was his eyes. Hannah stood up and walked over to Jace. She could tell by the look on his face he wasn't too happy about this. Will was selfish. Were Willow and Will suffering two different personal hells? "Alright. Come to the middle of the room and we can get this started. Shouldn't take long at all." Alec grinned. "You sure you're both ready to do this?" Alec wiped the grin from his face and looked at each boy for a long moment.

[l altezza l]

Sam laughed quietly. He put more dirty clothes in a pile. "It's been hectic here lately. I haven't really been able to keep up with it." When the room was somewhat clean enough, he stopped and sat on the bed. "After California, I didn't hear the end of it from Annette and Elliot. There was the wedding too. It was busy." Sam was tired, but more than happy to see Willow.

Alec asked if they were ready. They moved to where he wanted them. They were both quiet for only a short moment. Will knew it had to be done. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make. The words kept crossing his mind. He wanted his marks more than James. He wanted Willow more than James. His life was different now, right? "Yes." He sucked in his breath. Jace sighed. He wasn't sure why he agreed to do this. Will was an evil person, but maybe he really had changed. He didn't know why he was giving him another chance. Maybe it was in his blood to help him. They were brothers after all. "Yes." He wanted it done before he changed his mind.

[SincerelyCookie]

Willow finished the bed just as Sam sat down. She bounced onto the bed on her stomach beside Sam. "Wedding? Annette and Elliot got married?" Willow looked up at Sam and cocked an eyebrow. She suddenly felt bad for not sending a card. Then again, all she ever brought Annette was trouble. Annette didn't really like her. Willow rested her chin on the palms of her hands and crossed her ankles in the air. "That had to be a fun time." She looked at Sam and smiled.

Alec looked at the boys for a long moment. Hannah stepped back towards the door, watching carefully. He glanced down at the book one last time and took a deep breath. He snapped the book shut and set it down on the stand next to the couch. "Join opposite hands." Alec didn't look at the boys. His fingers were busy in the air, black symbols and foreign words forming. "This may hurt by the way." Alec didn't look at either of them but chuckled. Coming from Jace's wrist were small white grape vines. They continued under his palm onto Will's wrist. However, on Will's skin, it was black. Suddenly, the grape vine spirited off on Will's skin, covering every faded scar of a mark with vibrant black ink. With each mark renewed, it left a stinging feeling. All that was on Jace as evidence was the faint white grape vine mark, wrapping from under his palm, to the side of his palm and up to the top of his pinky knuckle. It looked exactly like a faded rune. On Will was the exact same mark, only his was black, but faded. When their hands joined, the vines matched up. Another few seconds passed and all of Will's marks were back. Alec sat down in the chair, tired from using so much magic. "Alright, viola. Will, I would wait a few minutes until you see Willow, so your body has some time to adjust and accept everything that happened." Alec looked at Will. Hannah gasped. Just what did she witness?

[l altezza l]

Sam stretched. "It was. I've never actually been to one before theirs." He didn't know what to expect. If it was smaller or bigger than most. If they did it like other receptions. Sam sighed. He looked at Willow. "So who else is here? I guess you ran into Jace."

Jace didn't find Alec funny. The vine stung his hand, but struck his interest. It wrapped around his palm and pinky. It was white like all of the other marks on his body. He couldn't say the same for Will though. Will winced from the pain. It wasn't like the ceremony where they removed his marks. He felt this. He was numb like he was before. He was conscious. Will bit his lip the vines started to form and retrace his body. When Alec was done, Will's knees buckled. He looked at hands and realized his had the same mark as Jace. He lifted his head to look at Alec when he spoke to him. He could only nod. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Jace helped Will onto a chair. He stared at Will. Those familiar black lines were dark like fresh tattoos. He checked him all over. When he landed on his face, Will's eyes went from blue to red. Will looked at Alec. "I owe you for this one."

[SincerelyCookie]

Willow nodded. "The whole gang is here. Alec is giving Will his marks, James is somewhere-Why James came, I'm not too sure." Willow stretched and sighed. She let her head rest on the bed. "I've never been to a wedding before, but I could imagine it had to have been beautiful. Flowers everywhere, lovey dovey speeches- something I'll hopefully get to experience sometime in life." She smiled fondly at the thought.

Alec looked at Will. "I'll remember that." Alec grinned tiredly. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. It all seemed way too easy for some reason. Will's body was covered in the black tattoo-like marks, his eyes were red. Everything was back to normal, except that Will still was disconnected from Downworld. He couldn't do anything with that part of his life so why did he want the marks back so adamantly? Alec got up and stretched. "I'll be on my way. If there is a problem, you know how to reach me." Alec waved, not wanting to find Willow. He made his way to the front door and walked past James. Something told Alec to stop though. Suddenly he felt cold all over. Something was wrong. Alec turned on his heel and headed back inside.

Back in the room, Hannah walked over to Jace. "Well that's interesting. You guys are bonded in more ways than one now." She chuckled softly. Hannah pressed her lips to his cheek and laced their fingers. All she wanted now was for Willow and her crew to leave so that her and Jace could be alone. He could blow Sam off for a little bit, couldn't he? It was short lived. From a dark corner in the room, a group of hooded figures showed up. There were four of them. Their faces were masked by shadows and their bodies merely bones wrapped in black cloth. Their eyes were hollow, yet there were iris' of gold. "Hannah Turner. You're coming with us." Two stepped forward, taking either of her elbows in their bony hands. The other two disappeared. "Willow isn't far." Hannah felt her body grow cold. What was going on? What had Alec done? Why did they want her and Willow? "Jace-" Hannah's mouth was covered by the bony hand. She was struggling with the two bony men. Her eyes grew wide before they fell closed. "Jace..." Her body was limp and a second later, her body was gone. Alec rushed into the room, out of breath. "Damn it." He looked at Jace. Hannah was gone and Willow was next.

*edited.

[l altezza l]

Sam was quiet for a while. So everyone was there. He thought about James and shuttered. He knew Jace wouldn't let him inside. Not after California. He mimicked Willow's smile. "You'll have one one day and I better be invited." Sam chuckled.

It happened too fast. Hannah was ripped from Jace's hand. Before he could protest, the mysterious men disappeared with her. "Willow isn't far." Will finally bolted back to reality. He jumped from the chair and almost stumbled. He had gotten so accustomed to having a normal body. The power from the marks coursed through him. Will swore under his breath. "Willow!" They were going to take her too. Will ran out of the library. He didn't know where Hannah took her earlier. But he could guess.

[SincerelyCookie]

Willow grinned as she looked up at Sam. "Now how could I forget you?" Willow rested her head back on the bed. A minute went by and suddenly Willow sat up. Something was wrong in the room. Two black, hooded figures showed up in front of them. Instinctively, Will scouted behind Sam. Who were these people? "Willow Turner." Willow's eyes went wide and suddenly there was a figure behind her, grabbing her arm. "You are coming with us." Willow struggled against the person behind her. "Why?!" Her voice was loud. "You gave William Ravena his memories back. And by seeing he was downstairs, you orchestrated to have his marks given back to him. You're a wicked warlock." Willow felt her body grow cold. This was because of Will. Willow stopped struggling. She never once looked at Sam. "Time to accomplish what should have been done twenty years ago." He meant when she was supposed to be killed at birth. Willow started to panic. The other figure came and grabbed her elbow. "Don't touch her hands, she can mess around in your head." Willow tried one last time to pull her arms free. "Will!" Willow started crying. She would never see him again, they would never be happy. After a moment, Willow finally looked at Sam. "I guess that day will never come Sam." A bony hand flew up to cover her mouth and seconds later, Willow was limp in their arms and Willow was gone.

[l altezza l]

Sam jumped from his bed as the mystery men appeared out of nowhere. This was because of Will? He didn't understand how warlocks could see and catch everything. Sam started to yell and protest, but before he could speak, he heard Willow and they disappeared.

Will got to Sam's room right when the same men disappeared with Willow. He stood at the door, wild eyes and not saying anything. His chest heaved. How could this have happened? They were just about to get back to their normal lives. Will swore under his breath. He looked up and saw Sam. Anger welled up. "Did you even try to stop them?" Before Sam could say he tried, Jace came in behind Will. "Will, he wouldn't have been able to do anything. You saw how they took Hannah." Jace watched Will carefully. He knew Will's history with Sam. It was just another thing that couldn't happen anymore.

Will turned to look at him. He eyed him. "We can't just let them get away with this. They will kill them." Jace sighed. He knew that already. But where would they even start?

[SincerelyCookie]

Alec came up behind Will and Jace. "I think I knew who took them, but I can't be sure. If it's who I think it is, we need to bust some a** finding the girls.""Find the girls? Who are all of you?" Dakota appeared in the hallway. Something was going on. Alec looked at the kid. Was this Sam's friend? Alec shook the thought and eyed Will. "You're going to vomit if you don't sit down." Dakota crossed his arms. "Answer me." Dakota stood in front of Alec. Alec was panicking, but it didn't show. He didn't like that Willow was taken. "Sam, did they say why they took Willow or Hannah?" Dakota was getting aggravated. He was being blatantly ignored.

[l altezza l]

Will ignored Dakota. So did Jace. They were waiting on Sam, who hesitated. "They said something about the consequences for giving Will back his memories and marks." He spoke quietly. Will was dumbfounded. He took Alec's advice and sat on the bed. "How did they even find out." Jace looked at Will. This happened because of him. He sighed before he looked at Alec. "Who did this then?"

[SincerelyCookie]

Alec sighed. There was no way they could have found out unless someone told them. The only person that wasn't there was James. Why would James do that though? Alec grunted. If it was James, it would be to get Willow out of the way to have Will all to himself. Did they even have that bond anymore? "Jace, can you take me to the library? If I'm correct, they are the Skeletal Brothers." Alec ruffled his hair. "Answer me! Is Hannah okay?" Alec looked at Dakota for a long moment. "A group of people kidnapped both Hannah and Willow and we are in the process of finding out who and how to find them." Dakota felt cold all over. Ever since Hannah came here looking for her sister, their entire family has had nothing but trouble. The only light amongst all the dark was Elliot and Annette's wedding. Dakota felt his hands ball into fists. "I'm going with you to find them." Alec glanced at Dakota before Jace led him quickly to the library.

The first month blew by. It was filled with pain and struggling. Where the girls stayed, each room was dark yet fully furnished. None of it made sense. The food was disgusting, yet the beds they were given were soft. The men were pigs, but they were at least given decent clothing. However, it still wasn’t home.

Willow cried every so often. It had been thirty long days since she last saw Will. Did he know what was going to happen to her? Was he looking for her? Willow sat up suddenly. Would he go back to Lena? Willow felt her heart pound. He wouldn’t go back. He loved Willow and only Willow. She closed her eyes and sighed. She still held hope that he would rescue her and Hannah.

Hannah was going insane. What had she gotten herself into? Over the course of the past half a year, she became a lot closer with her sister. The want to kill her was no longer there. Instead, she wanted to get to know her and start over. Thankfully, Willow accepted. Hannah looked at the door in front of her. It has been thirty days since she last saw Jace. He never took this long. He made it to Ohio in one day, so how could he not find her now? Hannah scratched her wrist. The wound still itched after being healed. The mark allowed her in Downworld without killing her.

[l altezza l]

Jace nodded and took Alec to the library. It left Will alone with Dakota and Sam. Will didn't take long to leave though. He knew Alec and Jace would catch him up. But right now, he realized he almost forgot about James. He was still outside. Will got up from Sam's bed and went out front. He went to look for James, but when he got out there, James was gone. Will took out his phone to call him when he saw he had a voicemail. It was from James. Saying how sorry he was he couldn't be there when Will got his marks back, but someone in downworld needed him. Will sighed. Maybe this was good that James wasn't outside still waiting.

A month went by and Jace started to worry. Will only had his brother now that Willow was gone. Not to mention, there was certain conditions to getting his marks back. He barely heard from him except when Alec brought news about the Skeletal Brothers or Willow and Hannah. As the month went by, Jace started l see just exactly how much Will had changed. He wasn't as rash and aggressive as he once was. But Jace wasn't sure if that was due to the last year or losing Willow.

Jace knew he couldn't mope around about Hannah. He couldn't be like Will. He was older than Sam and Dakota. He had to be strong, right? He found himself sitting at the piano bench. His fingers lingered on the ivory keys, but no music came from them.

Will wasn't sure what was worse. He couldn't live without her once she gave him his memories. Now that his marks were back, he lost her again. It was his fault, wasn't it? He heard what Sam said. He laid back on the couch. A small breeze from the open window wrapped him and his phone started to buzz. Once again it was James and Will ignored it. He couldn't talk to him. How could he tell him? He remembered the last time he saw James. They got together and he explained what happened to Hannah and Willow. The last time he saw him was a month ago.