Hey guys! I'm back! Been a while, eh? I'm terribly sorry to all of the people who began to read my story I'm Burning For You. I didn't realize how much writing a story based completely off of the actual episodes would take out of me. I started my senior year this year and needed all of the time I could get to do the things I needed before what I love could come into the picture.

But I'm back, and I'm terribly excited to write this new story. I've loved the Mortal Instruments series since they first came out, but this is the first time I've ever felt confident enough to try and write a story on it.

Please, be gentle with your critiques and help with me what I need help on, not what sucks.

Disclaimer: I do not own TMI, but I do own the plot.

Oh, P.S. - as I start to write more, I'll start posting the songs that I'm listening to as I write it. Sort of like a playlist, I suppose.

Enjoy

P.S.S. – first chapter is in second person, the rest of the story is in first person. OKAY I'M DONE ENJOY.

The swing set creaked under the child's slight weight, giving away its age with every pass of the swing. Its poles were rusted a dark gray, completely different from its initial shiny color. The small child sitting on the swing stared wistfully out into the open field in front of her, recalling the first time she remembered playing there.

She had been with her best friends, running after each other, laughing their squeaky toddler laughs, tripping over their shoe laces they still didn't know how to tie.

"Jace!" she had yelled, running after the boy with golden hair, two feet behind him. Even as a small boy he still ran with a faster speed than them all. "I'm gonna get you!"

Jace laughed, dodging to the right, sending the girl in the wrong direction for just a slight moment. "No you're not, Clary! You'll never catch me!"

"Come on, Jace, that's not fair!" a boy with black hair yelled, coming up beside Clary and bending down to tie her lace. "You know that she can't run as fast as you."

Clary put her palm on top of the boys head and played with his hair. "It's okay, Alec," she said absently with a look of 6-year-old determination on her face, making her emerald eyes light with mystery. "I know how-ta trick 'em."

Alec rose to stand beside Clary after her laces with knotted, giving her a small squeeze. Being only a year older than her made him protective of her, even if she wasn't his sister. "I know Clare-bear. But he knows how-ta trick you too."

All of a sudden, a loud "oomf" rang out from behind a large maple tree, making Clary and Alec run to see what had happened. When they rounded the tree, neither of them could stop laughing, falling to their backs and rolling around, holding their aching sides.

"I got him!" the slim black haired girl yelled excitedly. "I finally got him!"

"Izzy! Get off of me!" Jace groaned from under her, making her shriek with enjoyment. "Your butt is way too big to be sitting on me for this long! I'm already on the ground!"

Izzy stood, swiping the back of her jeans with her palms. "You lose, Jace. I got you!"

Clary and Alec sat beside them, watching Izzy dance jovially at the sight of Jace pouting on the ground. "Aw, come on Jace," Alec stood, yanking Clary up beside him. "Let's go in and play that new game mom bought for us. You know, what was it called..?" he scratched behind his ear. "I don't remember! Gah!"

"Simon would know!" Clary yelled, jumping up and down while clapping. "Simon knows what all the games are!"

Jace rolled his eyes, smiling. "That's because he's a nerd-o Clary. Nerd-o's have to know the names of the games or else they get in trouble with their nerd-o bosses."

Clary stuck her tongue out at Jace as he walked away, making Izzy laugh and Alec chuckle. "Are you coming, Alec?" Jace yelled behind him, speed walking towards the edge of the park. "I'm gonna beat you!"

Alec darted off, running past Jace. "Nuh uh!"

"Hey!" Jace screamed, taking off at a sprint. "No fair! I didn't hear you coming!"

"You snooze you lose!"

The boys ran off, leaving Izzy and Clary to stand by themselves at the large tree. "So, what do you wanna do now?" Clary asked, bored.

"I dunno…" Izzy kicked the grass with the toe of her sneaker.

Even at 6, Izzy was a good 4 inches taller than Clary. The small redhead had to peer upwards at Izzy, making her neck ache. "We could go watch them play that game?"

Izzy grinned, showing off her missing front teeth. "Race ya!"

Clary groaned, watching after Izzy as she sprinted clear off into the distance. "Come on, Clary!"

Just as Clary was about to take off, also, she heard her name being called. She turned around, seeing a lanky boy with glasses and skinny legs come walking out of the bushes. "Simon!"

"Wanna come watch the boys play a game?" Clary hugged him, wrapping her small arms around his neck.

Simon smiled, walking in step beside her towards the Lightwood's home, where Alec, Jace, and Izzy all lived. "Sure! What game is it?"

"I have no idea," Clary sighed, shaking out her tangled red curls.

The two kids walked to where Izzy stood, going off to her house to watch Jace and Alec try to kill each other in whatever game they were playing.

That had been three years ago. Jace, Clary, Izzy, and Simon were all nine, leaving Alec to be ten years old all on his own. But that wasn't what made them all drift apart. Their ages never made them hate each other.

Sebastian Verlac.

Sebastian was the reason they couldn't stand the sight of each other anymore. Why Alec and Isabelle didn't speak to her, why Simon and her were the only friends each other had. Why no one liked Jace anymore and couldn't stand to be around him.

Sebastian moved in just weeks after they had all played and laughed together in the field. Three weeks and two days.

In only took him three months to drag Jace into his world of being a mean little kid. Only three months for Jace to tell Clary that he hated her red hair and green eyes. That her freckles were so ugly they made him want to puke his guts out.

No one ever thought he could get his siblings to hate him…but he did. Alec and Isabelle wanted nothing to do with their adoptive brother with the golden hair and eyes. Anyone at school would never even guess that they were related, and to the dark haired siblings, that was more than all right.

The swing creaked again, making Clary jump out of her reverie, and out of the swing. She turned, taking one last glance at the deserted field where she had the most fun memories. Where her best friends and her had laughed and truly loved each other.

Where her heart had broken into a thousand pieces.

Where she went from being a child to being a broken kid.

So, thoughts? Just let me know if you like it, hate it, have any changes you'd want to see, any comments, helpful critiques, etc. I'm not a big fan of flames, honestly. I know right, shocking? Well, I'd really appreciate if you didn't flame my work, because if you don't like it, that doesn't mean I didn't put a lot into writing it and that other people don't.

Be gentle, please

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