Summary: Tick, tock, went the clock. He knew they shouldn't have gone out. But he could never tell him no. It was his fault. Tick, tock.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognisable. It all belongs to the talented Cassandra Clare.

Of Bonds And Brothers

Tick, tock, went the clock. He knew they shouldn't have gone out. But he could never tell him no. It was his fault. Tick, tock.

The boy reached the side of the rather small corridor and turned, making his way back for the umpteenth time. It should have been him. He was supposed to protect him, to always have his back. He was bound by oath to do so! So why hadn't he done it? What did he do wrong?

The second hand of the old grandfather clock continued its repetitive motion back and forth. Was it his imagination, or was the recurring beat getting louder? Against his will, the boy's mind was reminded of earlier that day, before everything had gone so awfully wrong.

James Carstairs grinned at his new parabatai as they left the dark Institute. It was a dreary night, the sky overcast with thick, grey clouds; but Jem's smile seemed to light up the surrounding area. Or was it the witchlight he was holding?

"Come along, William. They will leave without us; they have done it before!" Will Herondale rolled his eyes, but increased his pace nonetheless. Jem's eyes were bright, the colour high in his cheeks as they caught up to the rest of the group just as they were about to clamber inside the rattling carriage. Charlotte shot them an exasperated look as she took Henry's hand, stepping up into the safety of the compartment.

"Would you two at least try to keep up? I understand it's your first fight as parabatai, but that doesn't mean we'll wait for you," Charlotte scolded, just about managing to keep her smile under control. The boys were obviously excited, and chatted animatedly about how they were going to take out the demons they were travelling to destroy. Jessamine sat as far away from everyone else as she could, which wasn't very far at all in the cramped carriage, scowling, as she usually did on these trips.

It was supposed to be an easy hunt; simply just taking out a nest of Shax demons with Charlotte, Henry and Jessamine. The demons they had all been expecting were there, and they had taken care of them with minimal difficulty, but then things began to get a little more complicated.

The boy raked a hand through his hair, snarling heatedly at the unresponsive wall. He should've seen it! He should've looked more carefully. It was so obvious to him now, how it had kept silent in the ever-present shadows of the dark, deserted house. The boy put a hand over his parabatai rune; still able to feel the echo of the unbearable pain he had earlier felt.

Will easily caught the sharp weapon that came spinning through the air towards him, holding it aloft and yelling its name. The blade blazed up, filling the room with its light. Jem turned from having thrown Will the blade, and proceeded to kill the oncoming Shax with his dragon-headed cane. Charlotte, Henry and Jessamine were in the adjacent room, dealing with the rest of the Shax. Will plunged his blade into the last demon, and smirked as it disappeared before him, returning to whatever hellish dimension it came from. The two boys grinned at each other across the room.

"So, how many did you get?" Will asked, starting across the distance towards his friend. "I'm pretty sure I killed over half." Jem chuckled good-naturedly.

"Whatever you say, William." Jem replied, silver hair shining in the faint light of the still-lit seraph blade. Jem pulled out his stele, and pushed up his sleeve, setting the tip of the tool to a nasty gash on his forearm.

"Let me." Will said, taking the stele from Jem and deftly finishing the iratze, Jem watching him silently.

Fighting could still be heard from the adjoining room; the others hadn't finished.

"Shall we go and re-join Charlotte?" Will offered, handing Jem back his stele.

"Will, look out!" Will was shoved to the side, causing him to lose his balance and fall. He immediately rolled back to his feet, following Jem's frightened gaze and staring up at the huge, formless demon in front of them. There was a moment of pause, where the boys looked at the demon and the demon stared back. Nothing moved.

Breaking the silence in sync, the boys ran forward with cries coming from their lips, attacking the thing. To their surprise, the demon shuddered violently when the angel blades hit it, and disappeared.

"Is that it?" Will asked, uncertain. Jem looked at him, about to reply, when all of a sudden, one boy screamed in agony, followed closely by the other.

The boy curled his hand into a fist, removing it from his chest. They had been parabatai for all of a week, and what a great job he was doing. He had nothing left, no family, no friends, nothing – but his parabatai. If his friend died now, he didn't know how he would survive. He didn't think he wanted to. Eyeing the wall opposite, the boy drew back his hand, and slammed it into the wall as hard as he could. He hissed with pain as his hand rebounded, and a livid, purple bruise began to spread over his knuckles. He whipped around as the wooden door behind him was slowly pushed open. The Silent Brother drifted out, not sparing the boy even a passing glance. Following the robed figure was Charlotte. Charlotte had been utterly calm earlier, managing to kill the demon, get the wounded boy back into the carriage, and attempt to calm the other boy, all at the same time. The boy had been wholly grateful for her presence.

"How is he? Is it bad?" The boy asked, voice trembling slightly. Charlotte breathed out heavily, not quite meeting the eyes staring at her, huge with fear and apprehension.

"Brother Enoch says that he will live." Charlotte replied finally. The boy sagged with relief, almost collapsing against the wall that he had just punched. "You can go and see him. You're his parabatai; he could use your strength." The boy drew back at the mention of being parabatai, his eyes growing darker and hooded. He wished he hadn't asked his friend to be his blood brother; he had only gotten him hurt. He hurt everyone around him.

He was sure the boy in the room before him was going to hate him when he woke up, and he wasn't sure if he could cope with that. His parabatai was the only one he could love, and if said person hated him – he wasn't sure what would happen to himself.

Charlotte had gone, his mind registered, and so had the Silent Brother. Slowly, the boy approached the now-open door. It loomed ahead of him, the one room in which he could be himself. The boy took a deep breath, and strode forward purposely. The room was the same as it always was, and the familiarity immediately soothed the boy's frayed nerves. He paused at the foot of the bed, not sure if his friend was even conscious.

"Will? Is that you, Will?" The boy let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding, and made his way to the side of the bed.

"Why? Were you expecting someone less handsome?" This elicited a slightly pained chuckle from the silver-haired boy.

"Well, I wasn't expecting anyone less modest, that's for certain." The boy sank to his knees next to the bed, teasing mood entirely gone.

"How is your leg?" Jem went to flip back the covers, but stopped, seeming to realise something.

"It's all bandaged up." He explained. The boy on his knees resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"I know that. How does it – you – feel?" Jem shifted in amongst his many pillows, steadily meeting the blue eyes staring at him with his own silvery ones.

"I will live." Came the simple reply, repeating what Charlotte had told the un-injured boy a few moments earlier. Jem sighed, head dropping back down against the cushions, eyes closing. "I feel tired, in answer to your other question." Still on his knees at the side of the bed, the boy examined his parabatai intently.

"I am so sorry, my friend." He breathed, not meaning for the other boy to hear. But Jem's eyes reopened in curiosity.

"Whatever for?" The boy blinked, surprised. He had thought it was obvious.

"For not spotting the demon. Charlotte says it was a Behemoth. She and Henry just about managed to kill it after it-" He broke off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

"After it bit me." Jem had no such qualms. Will flinched, pulling back. "Well, Brother Enoch says there is a small chance I will walk again, so – Will, please do not look so worried. I am not being serious." Will started breathing again, and sat back on his heels.

"I should have seen it. It is so obvious to me, now. If only I had looked at the shadows. If-" He cut himself off, looking down at his hands where they curled around each other. "I am sorry. I should leave you to rest." He stood up in a fluid motion, not looking at his parabatai for fear that there would be hate in his eyes.

"William." He turned reluctantly as his name was uttered by the one person he could love, and was surprised at the steel in Jem's gaze. "It is not your fault." Jem enunciated his words very clearly; making sure the other boy understood exactly what he was saying. "Charlotte has informed me that there was no chance that we might have spotted it. It was extremely well hidden, and even you, William Herondale, with all your gifts, would not have been able to see it without first knowing it was there." Will looked away, fixing his eyes on a spot just past Jem's head. "Behemoth demons are semi-corporeal, are they not? How were you to know it would reform behind me? How were you to-"

"It should have been me!" Will snapped harshly, finally looking directly at Jem. "I'm supposed to protect you, to guard you, and all I did was let you get hurt! You should have seen yourself… I was not sure if you would survive the trip back to the Institute. We put iratzes on the wound, but…" He trailed off, realising that he was beginning to rant.

"You think yourself a bad parabatai, don't you?" Jem asked, seeing through his friend, as he always did. Taking the lack of answer as an agreement, he continued, his voice soft. "William, I would not have agreed to be your parabatai – despite the fact you did get that sword off me – so that I could have someone protecting me from getting injured. That will happen whether I have a parabatai or not." The dark haired boy flinched for the second time in so many minutes, understanding what Jem was implying. "I agreed to being parabatai with you because I believe that you are a good person in your heart, William, no matter how you appear to other people. I do not know why you picked me to be bound to you – you know I won't be here for much longer – but I am honoured that you have, and I consider being parabatai to be more than just looking out for one another in a fight, because Shadowhunters do that anyway.

Parabatai are there for when things go wrong. They are there during the bad times, when everyone else has deserted you. They are there during the hard times, when you just want to lay down and give up, but they keep pushing you up and onwards to greater things. And most of all, they are there during the good times, the times you wish would never end.

I do not know about you, William, but I know that I wouldn't share any of those moments with anyone else." Jem's gaze pinned the other boy to the spot. "I hope that you feel the same." The thin boy sank back against his pillows, suddenly looking very frail and absolutely exhausted. The other boy immediately moved to his side, hovering over him nervously. He wasn't sure what he should do. Jem had seemed so much better recently; not coughing as much, and he had told Will that he felt the need to take the drug was weaker. WI'll hoped Jem was getting better, but knew that couldn't be true, because as much as they wished it to be lasting, even Jem knew the parabatai ritual had only helped somewhat, as it was drawing on each other's strength.

Jem stared up at the ceiling, the talking having worn him out. The dark haired boy beside the bed watched him silently, not wanting to disturb him. As the minutes passed, his eyelids began to droop. Had Jem been looking at his parabatai at that point, he would have seen something shift in his friend's eyes, and a determined glint appear. Will still wasn't sure if he was the right person to be Jem's parabatai, but it was too late for thoughts like that now. He was a good Shadowhunter, he knew this, but he was going to become the best there ever was. That way, he would be able to protect Jem.

"What is it you want from me?" He asked softly, half to himself.

"I want you to stay with me." Jem replied, not missing a beat. The blue-eyed boy's gaze went over to the boy in the bed, surprised. He had been sure that Jem was asleep. Will collapsed in the ever-present armchair, his dark hair falling over his eyes.

"Can't sleep without me?" He teased easily. Jem smiled, eyes still closed, but didn't reply. His breathing began to deepen, and fell gladly into the dark abyss of sleep, as William Herondale watched over him, blue eyes glinting in the ever-growing moonlight.

A/N: And so Jem recovers, and Will becomes an amazing Shadowhunter. I hope you liked this! If so, please leave a review, and possibly even follow and/or favourite. If you didn't like it, I'd still love to hear from you as constructive critisism is gladly welcomed.

I may or may not continue with this story - not with this particular one, mind - but make this story into a group of one-shots, all about Jem and Will, so look out for another chapter.

Also, thanks to the wonderful The Pale Red Queen, who kindly beta-d this. This one-shot is dedicated to my amazing parabatai, CityOfDucks who I love very much.

Thanks for reading!

~TheMusicalDevil