Self Para: The Escape
Note: This takes place on the day of the event. Any change in behavior on Jace’s part is due to the spell.
There was a plan. It wasn’t a good plan. In fact, it was probably down right suicidal. It was a good thing that he didn’t mind the uncertainty of it or he would be terrified. Theoretically it was easy: pretend to still be weak, let them drag him away from his room and take them by surprise when he’s closest to the exit. The only flaw to that plan was that even if managed to take these three down, there were a lot more Circle members to be dealt with upstairs. He couldn’t face them when he wasn’t at 100% and he couldn’t take the time to heal. And there was the fact he wouldn’t be able to get to the lifeboat. But those were problems for later.
Jace sat on the floor, leaning against the corner of the room he waited for them to come, head down and his body slack. It was easier to take them by surprised if they didn’t think that he was going to be a problem. It helped that he had done something similar yesterday, put up a good act. It was 20 minutes later that they came in like they did every day. He was sure that they were always there at the same time. Jace kept up the act as they grabbed him by the arms, roughly getting him to his feet. “I’m not sure he’s going to survive another round,” one of them piped up, Jace didn’t bother to figure out whom. He was already figuring out the order in which he would take them. The strongest first, he’s going to need more strength to take him down. All he had to do was wait for them to turn the corner that takes him closest to the stairs that took him to the deck.
They turned the corner and he readied himself. He counted the steps as they walked. They were three steps away from the stairs when Jace pulled his arm out of Ashway’s grasp and threw a punch to his left, right at Crossheart’s nose. Giving the impression that he was weakened by days of torture gave him the advantage of taking them by surprised. Yet, Jace knew that it only gave him a split second of advantage so he had to finish this off fast. The punch had made Crossheart loosen his grip on him allowing Jace to push him back against the wall and slam the Circle member’s his head against the wall with a loud thud. Jace was grateful when he saw Crossheart sliding down. One down, two to go. He elbowed one, hitting him on the cheek and making him stagger and was about to do the hit the other when a feeling washed over him. A sense of calm.
The other two must have felt it too because they stopped. Jace didn’t understand what was going on. Most importantly, he didn’t understand why he was fighting the two Circle members. He was sure that they could calmly talk about this whole torture situation. They were Shadowhunters after all. “Hey guys…can we just- time out for a second? This whole situation is ridiculous.” There was confusion set on the others’ faces. “Look, I’m sorry about this guy. But he was kinda enjoying beating me up a little too much.” The other two looked at each other and shrugged. Ashway turned to look at him. “He was a little grumpy today anyway. A nap might help.” It relieved Jace that they weren’t going to retaliate for knocking their friend out. He really didn’t feel like fighting them when he’s not fully healed. “You mind skipping the beating today? I’m not sure how much I can take without healing. I could very well die, and I don’t think my father would be too happy about that.”
The words seemed to make up the mind of the two Shadowhunters. “I think we can skip it for the day. Valentine’s not on the boat anyway, he left early in the morning like always.” Jace found that odd. Where would his father go to? He seemed really adamant about his plans to abandon them. The blond was aware that he should supposed to stop his father’s plan, take the Mortal Cup but it could wait for another day. It probably won’t make that much of a difference. He looked down and saw the stele sticking out of Crossheart’s pocket. “Do you mind? I need to heal and I don’t have mine with me.” He pointed at the object. “Yeah, no problem,” came the immediate reply. It seemed that there was some sort of pull he had just from being Valentine’s son. After the stele was in his hand, the two new Shadowhunters backed away. “It’s a nice day up in the docks. We’ll just head there. Maybe you can join us later.” Jace didn’t particularly like either of them, hell he didn’t actually like anyone on the ship, but there was no one else. Maybe it would be better if he made some new friends. “Sure. Maybe later.”
After they left, he focused on drawing an iratze on himself. The effects of the rune were immediate but it was obvious to him that he still required a lot more healing than a rune can provide. This was going to have to do for now. It’s been days since he’s been able to roam the ship at will. Looking down at himself, Jace supposed that his first stop could be his room. A change of clothes would be nice and it would be easier to draw some other healing runes once he actually has a chance to sit down, maybe even a nap. He headed towards that direction.
There was a sense of relief when he reached his room. It doesn’t come close to his room at the Institute but it was still his personal space. Thinking of the Institute made him realize that he should probably contact the Lightwoods like he had planned. Although it didn’t seem as urgent as it was earlier. He was sure it was him just over reacting to the situation. Being cooped up in a room for days at end would play with anyone’s mind. He noticed that his own stele was on the floor. It must have dropped when he was being taken out of the room. Picking it up, Jace went to put it near a fresh set of clothes. He realized that he should shower first. He had been denied majority of personal hygiene break the whole time he was in captivity. So he showered, taking longer than he usually would have on his own. Jace could honestly say that he never felt more refreshed in his entire life than he did the moment he stepped back into the room.
Jace put on a new set of clothes. It felt nice not having something on that was soaked in his blood and sweat. He grabbed his stele and sat on the bed. He activated the iratze again and drew an amissio too. He lost quite a bit of blood during the last week, it was only smart to apply that rune. Jace lay back on the bed, letting the runes do their work in healing him. He only realized that he had fallen asleep when he woke up. There was no way for him to know for how long he had been out for but he did notice that the aches and pains that he had were significantly less. At least they were until he tried to get up. As he had suspected, his battered body still had some healing to do but he couldn’t deny that he hasn’t felt this good since before his captivity. The lack of nightmares helped.
Speaking of captivity, he remembered the offer from earlier. The thought of fresh air sounded so good right about now. He was about to leave when he realized that his stele wasn’t with him. Must have rolled off when he slept. When he went to pick it up, he noticed a chain peeking out from under the pillow. With a small smile, he pulled it out. It was a necklace. The one he never saw off Isabelle since Magnus gave it to her. How had it ended up in his room? She wasn’t wearing it when she was here earlier. Jace reached out to brush his fingers over the necklace when he felt something was wrong.
It felt like he was coming out of a trance. He remembered everything that happened but couldn’t figure out why they had so easily let him go. More importantly why hadn’t he knocked them out and escaped by now? He had to get to the Lightwoods, why did he ever think that it could be something that could be put off? Jace didn’t understand anything that had happened since this morning but right now was not the time to figure it out. He could easily send them a fire message but he didn’t think that his appointed wardens would be too pleased with him right now. And if he was back to his senses, they might have been as well. They would be looking for him. He didn’t have time.
Jace quickly pocketed the necklace and used the stele to draw a mendelin on him and activated his soundless rune. He needed all the help he can get even if it drained him. He grabbed his seraph blade before going over to the door. Not hearing anything coming from the other side, Jace opened it. The place was clear but this was probably one of the first places that they would look for him. Quickly he went down the hallway and up one flight of stairs. Immediately he came across a Circle member who seemed surprised about him being out and about. Before the other could say anything, he knocked her out and quietly lowered her to the ground. He was lucky this time that it was only one person, he was going to have to deal with a whole lot more. Hopefully, they think that he had escaped earlier and don’t look for him.
Miraculously, he managed to get up to the deck without running into anyone else. It surprised him to see that it was night. How long had he been asleep? His path ahead was empty but he could hear the others walking past. He wasn’t sure if they knew that he wasn’t supposed to be out but he had to take that chance. Keeping his blade hidden, Jace kept himself as inconspicuous as possible. It lasted just seconds before someone spotted him and they did know that he wasn’t meant to be out yet. The came at him and in an instant he had his blade out. His advantage was that he had been training for almost his entire life so taking down two Circle members was easy, no amount of instinct can be a match for that. His disadvantage was that there were a lot more of them than he could probably handle. Defeating the first two allowed him to get closer to the lifeboat but the noise had attracted others.
Jace defeated the third person that came at him, and the fourth. The fifth was a surprise, hitting him from behind, even without a blade in his hands. With all the deaths that were on him, Jace couldn’t find himself to care if there was another, not when he could hear the others coming. He raised his blade, advancing towards the Circle member slicing him across the arm. He didn’t stay to watch the other fall, instead turning to run towards his destination. His steps were halted by Crossheart. Of course he’d be awake by now, he was knocked out hours ago. Jace was sure he could take down him down again, he was in better shape than he was this morning but there were more. There were at least six others in front of him and some more behind him. He was surrounded. “Time to go back in the pen, little piggy. We’re going to have some fun tomorrow. I’m gonna enjoy knocking your teeth out tomorrow.” Clearly this man was only chosen for his muscle.
Slowly he backed away from those in front of him, trying to find a way to escape the situation. He turned and saw that there were four more behind him, his two other keepers among them. Eleven. How was he supposed to handle eleven? He was lucky to survive seven bumbling vampires. There was one way of escape, but he couldn’t be sure that he would survive that. Jace knew that the Circle members wouldn’t kill him, but he wouldn’t get another chance at escaping either. Security around him would be tightened a lot more after this. All his efforts of trying to gain Valentine’s trust so far was wasted by this attempt. His father would know where his loyalty really rested. He had to go.
All at once, two Circle members came at him. He so he fought, fending one off before taking the other down. Another decided to join in the fray and with his focus on diverted, Jace hadn’t noticed the one coming from behind until she had managed to slice him on his side. He might have not even notice it if it wasn’t for the feel of the blood from the wound, adrenalin having dulled the pain he felt. A part of him was grateful that it was his right side and not the left. His hand went to his side to put pressure on the cut. The distraction had allowed Crossheart to deliver a blow to his head that disoriented him a little. Even now Jace could see that he was not going to be able to win this fight. He looked ahead seeing his earlier option of escape.
Damn.
He was going to have to literally jump off the ship.
Jace placed both his hands on the hilt of his blade. He didn’t need to fight them off, all he had to do was move them further back. So he swung his blade both sides, hitting Crossheart across the front and the other Circle member on her arm. It stopped them from crowding him and allowed a path for him. Ignoring his body protesting his movement, Jace ran up and over the railing of the ship.
The last thing he remembered was hitting the cold water underneath.
