Ashes to Ashes
Hey Everyone!
Okay so… I don't like waiting for books to come out, so here is basically a continuation from Lord of Shadows, only following Clary and Jace.
It will be mainly focused on them, but will have snippets of other couples and what not, because it's not a story without the rest of the family.
I've really tried to focus on relationships, and the reality of living in the shadow world, over semantics and stuff.
If some things don't match directly with the world of the lovely Cassandra Clare, just ignore! My story can't be a carbon copy of anyone else's world, because them it wouldn't be my own.
Okay well, I hope you all enjoy!
Chapter 1
Ash fell softly on the cracked earth- saturated colours of red and grey were scattered over the desolate landscape. Clary was walking over the rough earth, feet catching on rocks- no wait… it was body parts she was walking over. Hands and feet, severed heads, all gray with decomposition and decay.
Dead bodies littered the ground everywhere, and Clary's body felt like it was underwater, the resistance of the air felt sticky, the smell of sulphur and decay invading her senses. She moved quicker, tiptoeing over the corpses, moving towards something.
She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, only that she desperately needed to get there, needed to find it. The desperation sunk deep into her stomach, making everything more frantic, time seemed to quicken.
More ash fell from the sky. Screams pelted through the distance. Clary broke into a run, stumbling over body parts, feeling the squelch of blood under her shoes until- a pavilion rose in the distance. The dream shifted, blurred, and suddenly she was standing right in front of it.
It was a small columned building, made from obsidian looking material glinting in the red light. Clary walked up the steps, her panic gone, replaced now with knowing.
Somehow, she knew what she was going to find. Splayed in the centre, draped in shadows by the pavilions roof, lay Clary's dead body, her hair looking dull in comparison to the scarlet coloured blood surrounded her. She knelt down, reaching for her body, reaching for something-
Clary's heart was beating furiously when she woke.
Clary and Jace lay side by side, their sleeping bags laid out on soft, mossy grass. A chill crept into the night air, and Clary could feel the dew seeping through the fabric from under her, dampening her clothes. She swore this mission was like a hike through the amazon; faerie had a tropical climate at this time of year, whatever time that was in Faerie.
Jace was fast asleep next to her, the breeze gently moving a strand of golden hair across his forehead. Clary reached over to push it away, careful not to wake him up. She didn't need him worrying more about how little she was sleeping lately- Clary had brushed it off as nerves, discomfort and homesickness.
In truth, visions plagued her dreams nearly every time she closed her eyes, but she didn't want Jace to worry.
The multi-coloured stars above her head didn't look like crystals anymore.
After over two weeks of trekking through enchanted forests, eating only the food they have brought with them, and staring past the eerie music of revels in the distance, the only thing Clary wanted to do was go home.
Yawning widely, she pulled her sleeping mat a little bit closer to Jace's, seeking his warmth in the cold night. Clary missed her bed more than anything right now. Folding herself against Jace's body, she shut her eyes, feeling the weight of fear at facing her dreams settle on her chest, not likely to go away until morning.
When she woke up, Jace was looking grimly down at her, his face dirty, hair un-brushed. She blinked the grogginess away, the memory of the vision fading with her heartbeat.
"Good morning sunshine" Jace said cheerfully, standing up and stretching out like a cat. Clary grumbled a reply- Jace's unending enthusiasm was beginning to give her a headache.
"I want to wash up. I think there's a stream just ahead", Jace looked into the distance when he said this, shading his eyes from the bright morning sun.
Clary brushed through her hair with one hand, tying it messily up into a pony tail. "That sounds like a good idea" she scrunched her nose "You're starting to smell".
"That is true" Jace grinned "And you moved your face right under my armpit last night. I thought you might like the smell" he winked, and turned away from her, fumbling with something in his pack. Clary rolled her eyes, trying to look nonchalant-he had noticed she woke up again.
"You didn't sleep well, did you" Jace's back was still turned, but she could tell his voice was serious. Clary stood, reaching for her thermos next to her bag.
"It's nothing Jace. I just had a nightmare and woke up for a few minutes", she replied, taking a long gulp of water.
"It was more than just a few minutes, Clary" Jace said, shoving some stuff into his pack, and turning to facing her.
Damn it, he was awake that whole time Clary thought.
She sighed and took his hand, realising that brushing this off would take a little more effort.
"Jace" she said, "You don't have to worry about me. I'm okay, I've lived through more than a little lost sleep". He looked agitated still.
"Seriously Jace" she dropped his hand, a small smile on her face, trying to look as optimistic as she could. "We've been through too much for you to worry about every little thing".
"Fine" he said, hoisting his pack across his shoulder, "But next time you have a nightmare, wake me up? Just so I can try and help". His response was so perfect, Clary felt it like a punch to the gut. All this lying, concealing and masking her visions was beginning to weigh heavily on her. She smiled softly, "Thank you".
They left the clearing with nothing but the imprints of their things on the plush grass, the wind blowing gently, urging them to their destination.
Walking through Faerie was like walking through one of Jace's nightmares. Following the dark war, everything in his sleep had become more vivid; colours and sounds in his dreams were so bright they felt blinding, whether it be Clary's screams, or just the light of the fountain in the middle of Idris.
Now, the heavily saturated colours of Faerie reminded him of the weeks following the war, when he and Clary had found each other each night, seeking comfort in the small hours of the morning.
They trekked through what seemed to be grasslands- flat, covered in bright green grasses of all sorts, yet somehow still humid and suffocating. Little wildflowers dotted the landscape, rolling over the hills like a brightly coloured blanket.
"The Clave better be raining praise on me when I get back; look at what this climate is doing to my hair" he joked, casting a sly look to Clary who walked beside him. She scowled, almost unconsciously reaching up to fix her own wildly curling hair- the red tendrils did probably look much unrulier than Jace's own hair did.
"You know as well as I do that I look a hell of a lot worse than you night now" she replied stonily, and Jace gawked mockingly, pretending to be outraged.
"And you know that the Clave is going to shower you with praise no matter what we come back with" she continued. He did grin at this.
"My sweet lady love, you speak nothing but the truth". Clary only huffed, and Jace tried to hide the inkling of worry that ran through him. After nearly four years of being together post-war, they had been through so much more together. Countless raids, demon hunting, mounds of paperwork, everything that the youngest people to ever run an institute would have to deal with, and Clary had faced it all with a smile on her face.
So what was making her so… agitated?
He had shrugged it off in the beginning, telling himself she was just irritable that day, not in the mood for their usual loving banter, or just thinking of other things, but now he could see that something was weighing heavily on her heart. She just wasn't as energetic, happy or determined as she usually was. It wasn't very noticeable; but Jace noticed everything about Clary- he always had.
Jace twisted the Herondale ring around his finger, feeling the cool ridges under his thumb.
"Ok, I think I can see the general entrance" Jace whispered in Clary's ear. They had walked for several days to find the entrance to the Unseelie Court- it wasn't something you could just stumble upon.
Countless wards and spells surrounded it, enough that the magic pressed down on them, heavy and tangible in the summer air.
They were hiding behind a crumbling stone wall that looked like something out of a story book. Jace was strategically peeking over, watching the path in which members of the Unseelie court walked along going inside and coming from the palace.
Clary nodded and reached for her pack, rustling through it looking for her rune book- it had become a journal of sorts, filled with sketches of rune, some half-finished or missing a line so their power wouldn't burn through the paper. She pulled it out, feeling tremors of adrenaline shoot through her hands at the danger that awaited them.
The travelling was done- it was finally time for action. Although, if everything went according to plan, there wouldn't be any fighting- this was a stealth mission, and Clary had prepared runes accordingly.
"Are you ready?" Jace asked quietly, reaching for his stele, ready to give or receive whatever Clary needed. She flipped through the pages, searching less with eyes and more with feeling for the rune she knew was hidden somewhere in her jumbled thoughts. Stopping abruptly, she scanned the page, remembering drawing the rune they needed now.
It was one of disguise- she would call it conceal, she thought, for it wouldn't just conceal their shadowhunter looks, but hide their very nature, every drop of angel blood and differentness that would allow them to enter the Unseelie court in the most obvious way- right through the front door.
Jace smiled when he saw her stop, knowing she had found what she was looking for. He seemed way too excited about this, Clary thought ruefully.
She shut her eyes, tracing the patter with her fingers, a practiced way of knowing how she would replicate the rune on hers and Jace's skin. She opened her eyes to find Jace topless, and looked at him wryly.
"You could have waited for me to draw the rune first before changing" she said, grabbing the bag of clothes at Jace's feet while he smirked and undid his belt.
"Dramatic effect" he said, pulling on a vest in a strangely textured material- the faerie clothes they would wear were made from an ethereal looking material- probably very expensive- but they needed to blend in with the members of the high Unseelie court.
Clary pulled out her own outfit- a flowing dress that seemed to be crafted from pearly pink flower petals, its tresses silky and sheer. She balked- the material looked almost see through.
"Um, Jace?", he looked up from dressing to see her face.
"What's wrong?"
"I can't wear this! It's see through!" Clary whisper-shouted. Jace grinned upon noticing the see-thoroughness of the material. He then composed himself and bit his lip- "There really isn't time to find anything else" he said, not sounding very apologetic. Clary scowled and turned around to change, sick of his teenage looking excitement, muttering under her breath.
In the end, the gown did look lovely.
It complemented Clary's pale skin, making it look like she was glowing, and the folds were arranged in such a way that nothing too scandalous was on show, yet the outline of her stomach and legs were certainly visible. She reached down for her stele, not looking directly at Jace, definitely not in the mood for saucy looks, and began tracing the rune on her forearm.
This part was practiced- no communication between them was needed.
Clary always went first with new rune- something Jace commonly protested- but it was just routine now. She felt the power wash over her, and a subtle imbalance went through her- nothing too obvious except the feeling of slight disruption. Clary fingered her ear, feeling it now end in a point, and pulled her fingers away sharply, started by the strange change in her body. She turned to Jace, who was brushing non-existent dirt off his new fancy clothes, and held out her hand. He gave her his forearm, bare in heat of the land, and carefully traced the rune. Jace didn't react at all.
"Did you feel it work?" she asked, more of a statement than a question, confident in the practice of her power, and proved right when his ears lengthened and his face became more symmetrical and long.
"Yea" was all he said. He looked deadly serious now. "Are you ready?"
"Are you?" Clary replied, and Jace nodded.
"I-" Jace cut off, gripping her hand tighter. "I can tell something is wrong Clary" he got out, although it was slightly strangled. A breeze swept through his golden hair. "And I just want to make sure you're ready to do this mission. Because after this we get to go home, okay? I won't ask what's going on, I just want to make sure you aren't going to do anything… stupid."
Clary looked at their joined hands, and after a slight pause, reached up and pulled her boyfriend in tight, wrapping her arms around him. He returned by holding her tighter, almost desperately, something she hadn't felt him do in a long time.
"Don't worry about me" she said, pulling back and hiding her stele under her dress. She knew this would offer no consolation- Jace would always worry about her, no matter what.
But there was nothing else to say.
They stashed their unwanted things behind the wall, not needing anything but a few hidden weapons and steles, and waited for the path beyond to be clear.