Prompt 220 - Melancholy - Aftermath - Sarbear12456 - Clockwork Angel

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Title: Aftermath
Fandom: Clockwork Angel
Prompt: Melancholy
Warnings: Deviates from book a bit.
Rating: G
Summary: After Nathaniel betrays her, Jem contemplates how he and Will feel about Tessa.

 

 

You could see it in the way she looked, the way she walked, how often she spoke. Nathaniel’s betrayal had cut her deep. She was still Tessa, but somehow less. Finding her brother, caring for him, had given her a way to cope and shift the focus from herself and her experiences. An easy escape.

To discover her brother didn’t have the same loyalty to her. Finding that, where she would risk her life to save him, he would sell her off for thirty pieces of silver couldn’t have left her unscathed. She still loved her brother, but less.

He had always known she would be allowed to stay at the institute, simply because both he and Will would argue if she wasn’t, but he expected her to be happy about it.

Then again, living in the same building as Will would probably not be the best for her mental health. While Jem loved Will like a brother, he was continually amazed by his selfishness and need to push others away. Tessa was one of the few people besides himself that saw he acted worse than he was. What she didn’t realise was it was so he couldn’t get close to anybody. He did it so he wouldn’t be betrayed as Tessa had. Jem also knew Will would insult deeply anyone who got too close, as Tessa was prone to.

 It was why he found her curled by the window in an abandoned room, reading the Codex. Specifically, the section on half-breeds. The look on her face was just shy of devastated, her eyes conveyed her loss of something she had taken for granted. An opportunity lost. Will had chosen to inform her that she couldn’t have children.

There was no doubt that Will and Jem felt the same way about Tessa. Her gentle voice with a harsh New York accent, her soft steps, and her inner strength she drew on to protect those near her. It was the reason Jem was, for one instant, absolutely furious at Will. For doing this to her.

“Well, we’ll just have to throw him out then.” He said. It cheered her up and helped vent his rage.

“Do you really mean that?” Tessa queried, her expression a mixture of worry, hope and curiosity.

“No.” He replied. He really wanted to say yes. In the instant he had said it, he meant it.

He crawled beside her and they sat like that for a few minutes. He took in the look of her face as she read on, contemplating what he had said. The way her hair glimmered in the faint London sunshine entranced him. Her genuine curiosity and thirst for knowledge amazed him, as it was rare in women outside the Shadow World. They continued like that until he moved away, seriously contemplating what he would say to Will and how he would keep himself calm as he did so. With a final look at Tessa, he pledged to himself to protect her from the dangers of the worlds she had just found herself in, and to do his best to ensure her eternal happiness.