perception and omission
Coda-fic returns! (SH 1x6: Of Men And Angels) Also Maryse Lightwood! Because given a chance it’s *always* going to be about Maryse. (I have a problem. It’s a good problem, I like it.) A little shorter than I originally intended, but I think it gets its point across. You’ll have to let me know if you agree. 😅 (Part of the @malecdiscordserver rewatch.)
For the first time in a very long time, Maryse doesn't know what to do.
And of course it's because of Valentine. She thought they'd put him and the Circle behind them, thought they'd finally dug themselves almost free...
She should have known better.
Clarissa looks so much like Jocelyn did, it keeps sending Maryse back, back, and then she has to make herself focus and her head hurts and her back is stiff and how the hell did Jocelyn think she'd get away with anything? Maryse is no longer surprised that the entire Downworld seemed to be after Clary five seconds after she showed up, but rather that Jocelyn somehow managed to hide her for 18 years even with that bright Fairchild hair, with her mother's eyes in a different face, and most of all with the way she strides across a room just like her father used to, refusing to flinch or glance away from her goal, no matter what anyone else thinks.
And Jace and Izzy followed, just like Maryse had followed Valentine...
And then Alec followed them, though for different reasons.
Alec.
Maryse knows exactly what to do, she just doesn't want to, not like this, not the way she knows she's going to act to make it happen.
Never trust a people who can't lie, they find more imaginative ways to stab you in the back.
She closes her eyes, hears the echo of her own voice in her ears.
She's surprised Isabelle has never noticed that Maryse is always talking about herself when she says things like that.
Robert knows, of course.
He's the only one who does.
Because she makes him go along with it.
(Not that it's hard, Robert always goes along, especially if it means it will keep things quiet, keep them orderly. If it helps them avoid talking about their marriage, determined as they are to keep their “united front” in Idris, he’d probably agree to anything.)
Maryse swallows. Makes herself open her eyes, though she barely sees the stained glass in front of her.
She has kept her children in the dark for twenty years. What's a few more? Just until this is over, until Clarissa and Jocelyn and Valentine are taken care of, again, just until her children are secure, until their name can shield them again, just until they're safe.
Just until she makes Alec save them.
Just like he always wants to...
