Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters written here. All work for these brilliantly-made characters goes to Cassandra Clare.

Author's Note: This is the first fan-fiction I've ever written. It's a one-shot. I would love reviews on this, honestly. If you do criticize, however, (which is absolutely fine) please be constructive about it. Thanks. :)

"I don't care, Jace!" Clary shouted, hoping that all the others inside Magnus's house wouldn't hear their argument. "I saw you kiss her!"

"Clary, I'm sorry, I just —"

"Look, Jace," Clary said quietly, but her voice was deathly cold and sharper than a seraph blade. "I don't want your excuses. You. Kissed. Her. That's all there is to it."

"Please, Clary, just listen to me."

But Clary's back was turned, and she was already walking towards the door. "I thought you loved me, Jace," she told him softly. "I thought that now that we finally can be together, I might mean more to you. I thought nothing could keep us apart, that we'd been through all obstacles ever imaginable. But I guess not."

"Clary, I do love you." Jace went to reach for her hand, but Clary pulled away.

"You should have thought of that before you let her shove her tongue down your throat."

Jace eyes widen, and there is a deep silence between the two of them until Clary says with finality, "It's over, Jace."

She left the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

—•—

Clary and Jace had been at another one of Magnus's famous parties when Clary had found Jace kissing another girl.

They had been having a wonderful time at the moment — it was one of the first parties the two of them had been to where they could really be together. There was no thought that they were family anymore, nothing related to Valentine or the Mortal Instruments could really bother them for the time being. Clary had truly felt… happy. It had been the first time in awhile.

She had gone off to talk with Isabelle for a little while, and after maybe ten minutes or so, Izzy had had to leave to speak to Alec. Clary had decided to go back and find Jace, maybe dance a little more or something, but she hadn't been able to see him.

Finally, she had stumbled upon both Jace and a girl (perhaps a faerie? Clary hadn't been sure) kissing passionately against a living room wall. The moment the faerie had seen Clary, she had scampered off rather quickly, leaving both Jace and Clary alone in the room where Clary had broken up with him.

Now Clary was just trying to get out of this party without letting everyone see her cry, but it was proving to be extremely difficult. She felt so angry that Jace could do this to her! After all they had gone through, after she had him brought back from the dead, he could kiss another girl just like that?

She thought they loved each other.

"Clary!" she heard someone call, and she almost hoped it was Jace. She shouldn't, of course — they weren't together anymore — but in her heart she knew she wanted it to be him calling her after her. It wasn't him, though — it was Izzy.

"Hey, Clary, you're leaving already?" Izzy asked her, but then, getting a closer look, asked, "Are you okay? Where's Jace?"

"Don't talk to me about Jace."

"What happened? Did you have an argument or something?" Clary just looked away from her, blinking back tears. "Clary, what's going on?"

"We broke up," Clary said softly.

"What?!" Izzy exclaimed in a much louder register. "What the hell happened?"

"He was making out with a faerie, just a few minutes ago." Clary sighed, reliving the memory for a moment. He used to hold me like that, Clary thought. And now he's kissing someone else.

"He didn't… No, Clary, are you absolutely sure it was him?"

"Of course I am, Iz!" she said sharply. Noticing Izzy's astonished expression, Clary said tiredly, "I'm sorry, I'm just…"

"No, I understand," Izzy said after a moment. "I'm just so angry at him! How could he do that to you?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself," Clary said miserably. "Look, Izzy, I have to go. I don't want to be around anyone at the moment."

"You want me to go with you?"

"Nah, that's okay," Clary smiled weakly. "It's raining, and you should stay here."

"At least let me call you a taxi," Izzy protested.

"I… I just want to be alone with my thoughts, clear my head. I'll catch a taxi after I take a walk."

"Alright, call me if you need me, okay?" Izzy leaned in and gave her an unexpected hug. Clary nodded, hugging her back and saying good bye.

Once Clary had reached the outside of Magnus's house, there were tears running down her cheeks that mixed in with the rain falling from the sky. There was only one thought running through Clary's mind: How could he do this?

Clary wondered what was going through Jace's head when he kissed the faerie. Had this been going on for a long time? Did they meet in Idris?

Did he even think of Clary, or had she been forgotten? She didn't know which was worse: to be remembered and have him kiss the faerie anyway, or to be forgotten entirely by the boy she loved more than anything else in the world?

Clary's feet didn't make a noise as she walked, but she still heard the footsteps of someone — or, rather, something — making noise behind her. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach as she turned down an alleyway, hoping to get away from whomever this was. Her pace quickened, but suddenly she felt something slash her wrist.

Clary screamed, looking at her attacker. It looked like some sort of scorpion-monkey thing, but Clary knew it was a demon automatically.

She wished that she had had more training, or at least had a weapon with her, but Clary wasn't an experienced Shadowhunter like Jace or either of the Lightwoods. This demon was moving quickly, so quickly that Clary sometimes confused its movements with the dark shadows around her.

The only way Clary could think to defend herself was to keep dodging the attacks and hopefully run to get help from Izzy or Jace — No, wait, not Jace. Clary had almost forgotten that they had broken up. He wouldn't come to save her. He didn't love her anymore.

The demon lunged again, swinging its poisoned tail and this time hitting Clary in the stomach. Everything hurt, and time seemed to be slowing down.

Her wrist and stomach burned; everything felt as if it was on fire. She tried to do a dodge-roll, or even just step the side, but it was hard to move. The poison was making its way through her body quickly.

Her field of vision was slowly clouding and blurring, and Clary fell to the pavement, trying not to cry out. Suddenly she heard the demon hiss again. But it didn't sound ominous — it was almost as if the demon itself had gotten attacked. It hissed more and more, until finally, it gurgled and stopped altogether.

Clary couldn't see, she was on the verge of passing out. Who had killed the demon?

"Clary?" a voice asked. "Clary, you've got to stay awake, okay?" The voice cracked while saying, "Stay awake, please. For me."

"Jace?" Clary asked tiredly. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Jace said. "Your stunningly attractive new ex-boyfriend is here," he joked weakly, taking her hand.

Clary felt so tired that she didn't even respond to his comment, only saying, "Jace… it hurts."

"I know, I know," Jace said. And with the standard grace of a Shadowhunter, Jace swooped Clary into his arms. "C'mon, we have to bring you to the Institute."

Clary couldn't remember anything else after that.

—•—

Clary sat up in her bed, looking all around. It turned out to be a bad idea — there was a huge bandage covering her wrist and her stomach, making it hard to sit upright. She ended up in an awkward, halfway position between the two of them, but it didn't hurt her at all.

Jace, sleeping in a chair next to her, jerked awake, "Clary!" he said, obvious relief in his voice. "You're awake!"

"Tell me what happened," Clary said icily. "And then I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Okay," Jace said, almost sadly. It was as if he had forgotten that they were broken up. "You were attacked by a Scorprios Demon. It poisoned you really badly. I had been, um, looking for you, and I ended up killing it. And then I brought you back here."

"Alright, well, thanks," Clary said after a moment.

Jace just nodded absentmindedly, and then said, "Could I please tell you what really happened last night?"

"I don't want to hear excuses, Jace."

"Just hear me out. Please, Clary?"

"Alright," Clary replied reluctantly.

"Magnus dared me to drink a potion, similar to the one Simon had when he had turned into a rat that time. And, as it turns out, it makes you lust over the first woman you see. It was that faerie, Clary. I wouldn't have kissed her by my own free will, I swear. I love you, and only you."

"You could have fought it off — you just didn't care enough." Clary looked away.

"I killed the Scorprios demon. I ran you back to the Institute in my arms, Clary. And you don't think I care about you?"

"It's hard to watch the boy you love kiss someone else, especially a faerie."

"Please forgive me, Clary," Jace whispered. "I've never regretted anything more in my life. You've got to believe me."

"I… I…" Clary stuttered. Jace was close to her, so close that she could see tears welling up in his eyes.

Was Jace Herondale crying?

"Are you crying, Jace?" Clary asked, laughing and smiling for what felt like the first time in ages.

"No," Jace says hurriedly, looking away to obviously wipe away tears.

"I think you were…" Clary said in a singsong voice.

"Jace Herondale does not cry," Jace protested, rolling his eyes.

"I think, in this case, he just did."

"Alright, alright, I was crying. But only a little bit — and it's because I love you."

"Prove it," Clary whispered, the corners of her mouth lifting up into a smile.

"Prove it?" Jace asked, raising his eyebrows. "If you say so." And Jace leaned in, kissing her lips for what felt like the first time in a long time.

She forgave him, of course she did. Jace was the one person she loved most — and to her, love meant forgiving each other. How could she not forgive him? To not be with Jace, even for the short period of time when they were broken up, was heartbreaking for the both of them.

"So," Jace asks as he pulls away, "I take it we're getting back together?" There was a huge grin etched across his face.

And Clary couldn't help but smile and nod as she pulled him in for another kiss.