24 24th piece of the broken cage: North Pole

Will took a deep breath to stop the dread from showing on his face.

" Pardon, what did you say?"

The middle-aged BH captain was wearing a look of knowledge on his face that William wanted nothing but to wipe it off his face. The man seemed to be in so much guilt as he took a step forward to grab a hold of Will's shaking arm and guided him to sit down on the office chair that Will tried to avoid.

" Will, he's fine. It's just that I wanted you to know this. Jason's fine. He's okay. I don't know where he is but  I know he's fine... Willam breath!"

His chest was moving in a shaking rhythm and he just knew that his palms were starting to sweat, he brought his trembling hand to his forehead to brush his raven hair back.

" Where is he?"

He tried to ignore the fact that his voice broke in at the end. Captain was still trying to make him sit down but with each push, Will became even more frustrated.

" I don't know, he left right after the Queen allowed."

William swallowed heavily as he whispered thanks under his shaking breath before walking around the shorter man to get out of the meeting room that they had gathered to give the reports to the Queen.

He should've known this would happen. He should've been suspicious of the knowing looks the woman kept giving him, the entire four hours meeting but he was too focused on his misery and too in pain to think about the condition of his brother that had killed the Queen's sister. He couldn't believe how selfish he had been acting, Jason had no one to turn to and he barely told anyone about the things that were bothering him. Jason didn't tell him anything either and William was left with his raging dark thoughts to motivate himself with them.

Jason was all alone. Jody tried to talk with him but Jay had closed off to himself from the first day their father had brought him to their house. His five-year-old self did everything on his own. He cleaned his dishes, trained by himself, and bandaged his wounds all alone in that cold basement that their parents had made to be his room.

If it wasn't for William or Jody he would've died a long time ago because of all the starvation their mother put him through. If it wasn't for William's soothing touches, Jay would've bled to death from all the beating he took from their so-called father.

Jason had come to the castle all by himself to face the Queen that was thirsty for their blood to keep others out of trouble. and Of course, the Queen wouldn't kill him. Jason was more useful than how people gave him credit for. If only he could see it with his own eyes. If only Jason could see himself through their eyes rather than his own...

Will cursed his self for abounding the kid that he had sworn to protect since the day he had pulled himself in front of him to get the sharp, echoing slap, Will had begged God to spare him from, but now Will had once again failed him.

He ran down the stairs to get to his car as soon as his legs would carry him to drive to the place that he was hoping with every fiber of his heart that he would find his baby brother there.

" Please be okay Jay...please."

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Green eyes were looking out of the cell window up above the tall walls to the setting sun that he knew would one day...bleed red.

His body was shaking from cold and blood loss, deathly pale skin, and hurting vessels that were crying under his broken skin.

He closed his forest seeking eyes and imagined...

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Tia tried to conceal the way her icy eyes blew wide open as they entered the place that was bigger than the castle itself.

The white walls went up to the glass roof that was covered in snow, the ground was heavy with items she had only dreamt of seeing. There was a double staircase that split the ground in two directions as they went down to the under that she guessed would have many rooms to suit. There, hanging on the nail for dear life, was the biggest Clock she had ever seen.

Tia looked over to Julia who had a similar expression to herself but as her sharp gaze fell over Clark's face, she knew that it wasn't the first time he had come here.

The black man seemed to be swimming in memories, the walls that held the most secret screams were smiling at him in a way he knew were not good.

Johnathan would be furious at him. His father was known to be a patient man as he took great care to fix other's problems and mind everyone's safety, he was the head of the N. 44 and everyone knew he was a great leader and a great Gifted.

The day Clark had seen Tia in that empty, dumb street, while she was poking a man's eye out, he knew he had to return. The Queen had declared that he was useful as a weapon producer and had left him alone, but before coming back to new york, right after he had escaped from that cold prison cell, his father had come to rescue him...the father he thought he had lost when he was only twelve years old.

Johnathan had brought him to N.44 to protect him. Keep him safe from the rage and dangers of the outside and the Queen. But Clark's love for the Astrien was greater so he came back to protect the ones that he had left in the attack. He and his father weren't on good terms when his patience finally snapped as he stole a ship from one of the headquarters and left for NYC.

He had been livid with his father when he had first seen him...he could still remember the way, Johnathan had been trying his best to hold him while he had been clawing at him...

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Clark's flashback

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The chains around his thin wrists were screaming in pain but he felt numb. The hollows around his eyes were digging deeper and the shaking of his fingers made the chains play that jiggling music that was the only sound aside from his ragged breathing to be around him in the cold, metal cell.

There was a collar around his bubbling throat to keep the beast within him in a deep sleep. No matter how much he whispered to the beast to wake up to help him...there was no response. He never thought he would miss that warmth the beast spread around his chest when it was too cold to sleep. Even if the beast was with him, Clark knew he still wouldn't be able to rest.

Where was Tia?

Did Julia stop bleeding?

Did Adrian stop screaming in bloody agony?

Did Jason survive?

Did Jody finally breathe?

What happened to HIS William?

The slight remembrance of his name made his insides turn. Those cold ocean eyes did not belong to HIS Will. William would never, EVER stand next to that woman and let those soldiers drag Adrian out of the cells with his bleeding arms to sacrifice him for the broken earth. He wouldn't...William couldn't. His heart was softer and warmer than that. His voice was softer than any of those lullabies he sang for Sandy at night, not that kind of cold, sharp that sent shivers down his spine. He couldn't just stand there and wait for the Black Hunters to drag each Gifted to their deaths. He didn't have the heart to endure it.

But every time Clark closed his eyes, he kept recalling those cold oceans that were hiding a storm. The way those warm, waves had turned deadly was just impossible to consider in William.

Will...HIS Will...his mate...his love...his life...had just been a mistake.

Clark closed his eyes against the cold darkness of the prison.

He needed to get others out of here, he needed to find Adrian and save him from whatever misery that Queen had put him through...but sleep was calling to him...the gash in his lungs was slowly making it easy to sleep...his raging thoughts were slowly settling down as he closed his eyes he could feel the death's freezing fingers graze his side to finally grab a hold of him and bring his corpse to peace.

And just like that...there was a sudden sparkle of light at the edge of the darkness. The fingers turned warm and there was a familiar voice that he hadn't heard for years.

"Clark?...Son! Wake up! ...time to go! Wake up"

He could feel someone who was tapping his dark, bruised cheek rapidly( they hurt so much, just how did Jason endure them all over his body?!)

...the deep voice that used be his comfort was calling his name...when he was still just a boy and he didn't know the difference between bad and good...when he didn't know if the monsters under his bed or in his closet were his adult self or not...that same deep comforting voice that placed him back to bed and kissed his forehead for goodnight...

"Dad?"

He opened his eyes to see his father that he had never seen since he was twelve. The man was kneeling in front of him with that same worried expression Clark was grown up with. He had pressed a cloth to his wound to keep the blood from floating out of him.

" I'm here..."

Clark couldn't breathe properly and he didn't know if that the 'Thud Thud sound was coming from his heart or his father's but he knew one thing that was for sure...

" you...you were dead...you...y_you can't BE here....there's no way..."

His father... Johnathan...that was his name...or was it?... He had tears sliding down his face like a storming river and his strong hands were circling him in a tight embrace; but Clark pushed at his chest, clawed it, punched it, brought his legs up as much as he could in that tight hug to kick the man so that he would let him go because there was no way this man was his father...

Clark had been holding back tears from the second the attack started, the stress he had been hanging onto so that he would keep others safe, Adrian's painful screams, Julia's cries of help, the way Tia looked at him and screamed at him to go and save yourself, Jason, as he gave him his last cocky smirk before he ran into the burning building, Jody as she pulled him out of the hole only to fall there herself...and the betrayal of William finally caught up to him as he stopped struggling against the man and clung to him. He let the tears run down his bruised cheeks...

" Save them....please... I'll do whatever you want me to...just...bring them back to me...don't let them die..."

Johnathan only pressed his face closer to his beating heart to calm his weeping son, down.

" we'll help them...calm down Clark."

Both men held onto each other before Clark finally lost consciousness and went lax in his father's arms.

Johnathan sighed and sighed and sighed...they didn't have much time left before they had to go.

"Sir, the Black Hunters are coming, we need to go."

The older black man looked over at his soldier only to nod once before collecting his limp son's form and moving out of the cell.

He wanted to help Clark's friends. He did really...but there was no time left...

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End of Clark's flashback

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He had thrown a fit when he woke up in N.44, yelling at anyone in sight because how dare they come back without his pack?! His friends?! His family?!

He had been furious. Violent. Angry.

He didn't eat or drink for days after that. He didn't talk to his father even when the man begged him to at least look at him. Clark still didn't what made him wake up one morning and get out of his room. He had lost all of his muscles and he had become so skinny he could count all of his rips( he tried his best to not remember how Will had been this thin). It was the people of the N.44 that brought him back to life. Brought his booming laughter and happy smiles to the surface of his skin. They made him a new Clark, even when he dreamt of his family falling apart in the attack he woke up with a purpose. To kill the Queen and bring his family in the safe heaven of N.44...and to break Will's heart just like how he did it to his heart.

Clark looked over at Tia and Julia...he had brought two of his family members here. Others would soon follow. One goal down, two to go.

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Jason was playing Xbox on his tv when his doorbell rang. The speakers on his ears made it hard to hear things but Jason was grown up to be able to hear through the loudest of noises. He placed the remotes down to glance at the door.

The lady downstairs had told him to not use the water for a few hours because there had been a problem so they had brought in a mechanic to fix it. He had obeyed no less...yes it was unheard for him to listen, to anyone but the lady was such a sweetheart and she made him pancakes in the morning so he honestly liked her and tried to obey so that whatever was bothering her would get repaired. He shook his head and pushed his raven hair back out of his eyes before getting up with a slight wince to limp over to the door. The bruises on his skin were fading away but he knew that it was just a matter of time before he got into another fight that would cause him even more bruises than before.

The wounds on his chest and back were still hurting and he had bandaged them again this morning but the pain was still there... let's not talk about the fact that he was out of bandages and he was too lazy and too in pain to go buy some so he had to use the old, bloody ones. He hoped his wounds wouldn't get infected.

As he reached the door he pulled the hat off his black hoody and ruffled his hair once more, he puffed out his chest and straightened his shoulders to look as normal as he could. He didn't want the poor woman to pass out on him.

" Mrs lightwood, I swear to God I didn't use any water.....Will?"

There, behind the door was his older brother who was bent on his legs as he gasped for breath. Will looked up at Jason before straightening and bolting to him as he pressed his baby brother in a tight hug.

Jay froze in his brother's arms. Will had his arms around him and his fingers were on his neck. there was a shallowness to his breath that made Jason wonder...was he crying?

" Will, you okay?"

William only pressed him harder to his chest and shut his eyes tightly. Jason tried his best to surpass his pain when Will pressed his bad shoulder even harder.

" what the hell were you thinking?!"

Jay was still trying to understand what was going on when Will pushed him inside roughly. The other similar ocean gaze ran over him in the search of wounds that Will just knew were right under his brother's clothes.

" where are you hurt?"

Lying to a mind reader was ridiculous but Jason did it anyway.

" I'm not hurt, what's gotten into you?"

Will narrowed his eyes.

" take off your hoody then."

" What!?"

Will took matters into his hands as he grabbed the end of the hoody and brought it over Jason's head, completely ignoring his protests. Finally, Jason moved out of his hold to take a few steps back and gaze at Will with the same storm in their similar oceans.

They stared at each other for a few seconds before Jay said.

" it's not that bad. They don't hurt at all."

Will only gave him one of his knowing looks. While Jason had been struggling to get out of his hold, William had enough time to see the bruises and the bloody bandages around his brother's chest.

"They look like they would hurt...a lot."

"Well, they DON'T, so drop it."

It looked as if William wanted to say something else but he held back as he took a step forward to led Jason to the coach that he had previously been sitting.

The younger male sat on the couch as he tried his best to ignore the way his brother silently poked his hoody to say, take off your clothes. To say the least, Jason didn't want William to see his bloody, old bandages.

" Will, seriously it's fine."

"Jason, I'd appreciate it if you let me decide what to do for now."

" But I took care of it" Jason looked away from, Will's knowing glare that just made him want to punch his wall harder than before...it would be a lot better if he broke his knuckles in the process. Jason hated it when he knew that he was a burden to Will, to anyone. Sometimes all he wanted to do was to forget everything and anything and move to a place so far away that nobody knew him and he didn't know anyone, maybe that way Will didn't have to carry his weight on his already hurting shoulders as well. Maybe that way he wouldn't have to wake up every day in a mess that they all called their life now.

Jason huffed, he glared at his brother before grabbing a hold of his hoody and pulling it off his head with another slight wince, displaying all the newly created flaws on his pale, scarred body. Jason didn't have the heart to look into Will's eyes, didn't have the heart to endure the hurt he was sure, he'd find there. He pulled his hands on his lab and pressed his nails in his opposite indexes. A nervous gesture that seemed to be in all of his siblings. At least some part of him was like them. His siblings were the perfect, masterpiece of the art he had always wanted to be like. He wanted to be like them so that maybe, just maybe Florence would stop looking at him with so much hate, Jason screwed his eyes shut all those nights when the cold of the basement was too freezing, only to wake up next morning with even more disappointing behavior that he showed to his half parents. Was it too much to ask Florence for a single warm smile that she gave to her children?

Why was he such a disappointment? He couldn't even hide his wounds from William?! He couldn't just stop making his brother worry, could he? Jason bit his lip to stop the wince from appearing when Will pressed a little too hard on the chest gash that he had stitched last night.

Will had kneeled on the ground in front of him to check his wounds that Jason had failed to keep to himself. It wasn't the first time Will had kneeled on his knees to check his hurting areas...it wouldn't be the last one either.

" I'm sorry Will..."

His brother looked up at him in surprise, but then the wide eyes turned into a warm ocean that Jason knew, he would never drown if he swam there, Will would never allow that to happen, he'd keep the waves from crushing him, he'd shelter him from the heating sun even if it burned him to do it.

" it's okay Jay."

Jason once again wondered, how many more ' it's okay Jay ' would it take Will to finally give up on him just like everyone else?