Hi everyone!
This is my first fanfiction. Please tell me what you think of this first chapter! I may precise too that I'm not english but french, so please be indulgent if you see any mistake. I am corrected by a very close friend, Danifrenchkyz. By the way, thank you so much! I would probably never have posted this fanfiction without your help! 3
Clary was siting in one the the library's chair, deeply plunged into the book she had been reading for almost an hour now. She was turning the pages slowly, her eyes scrutinizing every part of the old paper she had between her fingers. Her other hand was occupied to hold her head, her elbow resting on the armchair, part hidden by her ginger hair cascading over her arm. Through the hair we could see her skin, the pink of her flesh sometimes cut by some white scars, drawing elegant patterns here and there.
She was studying the Gray book, examining every rune and reading the effect of each one of them. It was not an usual activity for a shadowhunter of her age, but Clary had only discovered her true identity two months ago. Even though she was recovering her memory, her mother had never taught her about the history of shadowhunters or the Shadow World. She still had to learn a lot of things, about runes for example. It was why she was studying this book. Pausing in her lecture, Clary stopped to grab her sketchbook and started to reproduce the rune on it, writing its name at the top of the page. But runes and history were only a little part of all she had to assimilate, since she had to learn how to fight. Therefore, she had training sessions nearly every day with a member of the institute, which could sometimes last for more than three hours.
Speaking of training... Oh no! She had forgotten! She hastily closed the Gray book, put it back on the table and grabbed her sketchbook. Thinking a second, she also laid it back, knowing that coming back to her room for it would only make her lose more time. She went out of the library and only stopped running in front of the training room, taking two second to catch her breath. She was lucky that she was already in training gear, as she had had an other training session this morning. That one had been with Izzy, who had helped her to work on her agility. Clary could already imagine the aches she would have in the evening. But now, she would train with Robert, the father of her Lightwood friends. The red-headed pushed the wooden doors open and entered the big training room. She saw Alec and Jace fighting hand-to-hand on one of the tatamis, a blond girl throwing knives on a target at the other corner of the room, and two other boys fighting, but with weapons this time. Examining them a little closer, she noticed that they were not training with swords, but with daggers. She didn't know the three last people, but as many shadowhunters and families were regularly coming to the institute in reason of the war, she didn't pay them much attention. Instead, she headed toward Robert, who was also coming to her. She hoped she wasn't that late...
"Clary! I thought you'd be here earlier! said Robert.
-I'm sorry, I was studying the Gray Book and I forgot that we had a training session... confessed sheepishly Clary. Have I been late for long?
Robert laughed and answered:
-No, you're only five minutes late! It's just that you always come early, that's why I was surprised not to see you, he smiled.
-Oh, she replied back, I'm lucky then, because I haven't checked the clock once, she blushed.
-It doesn't matter, you're here now. Let's start."
As she had already worked on her agility this morning, Robert decided to improve her hand-to-hand fight technique. Clary quickly tied her hair up in a ponytail and started to revising all the movements she already knew on a mannequin. The Lightwood father was attentively observing her, rectifying her position when her moves were incorrect. Then, he taught her new moves, using both her hands and legs. Once she could reproduce them well enough, Clary abandoned the mannequin to face Robert. They started fighting, slowly first to allow Clary to put the new movements in practice, then more quickly. The most difficult to Clary was to chain together the moves. She ended up several times on the carpet, mostly because of her slowness. But after a while, even though she started to feel exhausted,Clary could move faster. Blocking the attacks with her forearm, she plunged her fist in Robert's stomach and stepped back to kick him in the head. Unfortunately, Robert caught her foot before it could touch his face, and pulled it with him as he backed up. Clary strongly met up with the tatamis, and her head collided with the floor.
"Okay, I think it's enough for today, Clary, said Robert, helping her to get back on her feet. You did a great job, you improved a lot since I last fought with you!
Clary took the hand he was offering her, careful not to stand up to quickly, her other hand at the back of her head.
-Really? I still have the impression to be too slow, she replied back, her head aching a little.
-That's because you only started training a month ago, don't worry about that. With the time, you'll be able to anticipate you're adversary's movements, which will make you faster. But I repeat, don't worry about that, you're still doing a very good job for someone who had never fought before. Don't be too hard with yourself, he finished kindly.
-Thank you" responded Clary, a little bit embarrassed.
Robert squeezed kindly her shoulder and left the room. The red-headed girl looked up at the digital clock on the wall. Since it was now five, it meant that they had trained during three hours. Clary, soaked with sweat and being very hot, remove her tank top, only resting in her sport bra. She went toward the taps at one extremity of the room and greedily drank water. She splashed some on her face, and dried it with her shirt. A hand on her shoulder suddenly made her jump. She quickly turned back.
"Jace! It's you! she gasped, you scared me!
The golden boy, also shirtless, smirked. His arms were now crossed on his muscular chest, which was slightly shining, probably because of the sweat.
-Sorry. I just wanted to say you that I saw you training, and that you were not that bad.
-Everyone keep telling me this but I just feel like what I do isn't good enough, she laughed. But that's nice, thank you.
-Izzy also told me that you got by in agility. That's great.
Clary laughed and sighed at the same time.
-At least, I won't be exhausted for nothing!
-Yeah, don't worry about that too, you'll improve your endurance and will be less tired each time. And you know, we train without runes, but in real fights we use them, so it's easier. You've got to be more vigilant because it's reality but your performances will be increased. But the more you train without runes, the best you'll be after.
-Yeah, of course, she said. I saw you fighting with Alec when I entered the room. You two were so fast that I thought you were using runes.
He smiled and laughed.
-No, not this time. But may I take this as a compliment?
Clary grinned and nodded.
-It was kind of one.
Jace smiled crookedly and approached the taps. Turning one open, he cupped the water into his palms and splashed it on his face.
-By the way, he continued, water running down his cheeks, we could train together if you want. You know, working on your endurance for example.
Clary raised her eyebrows.
-Really? It would be nice!
-We could go running. With time, it would help you reduce your heart rate.
He had now passed his wet hands in his hair, and dried his face with the shirt she had not noticed he was holding. Other people were coming toward them in order to quench their thirst so Jace and Clary started heading toward the door.
-Like, tomorrow if you want, he suggested looking at her.
She thought an instant of what she had to do the next day before agreeing.
-Yeah, why not. When do you want to do that?
-Tomorrow morning? At eight?
-That's fine!
-And don't eat before coming. Or eat light. We'll take something after, he quickly added.
-Okay. I think I'll still eat a bit, or I won't run very long, she laughed. Where do we meet?
-I can wait for you at your room. If it doesn't bother you.
-Yeah, no problem, she nodded.
They were now out of the training room, directing toward the room wing. Even though they were plenty of rooms, Alec, Izzy, Jace and Clary's rooms were very near.
-Oh, wait, she exclaimed, I left my sketchbook at the library earlier.
His smirk was back on his lips.
-So was that why you were late? Because you were drawing?
She rolled her eyes, smiling.
-I wasn't drawing. Just recopying the Gray Book's runes.
-You're sure? he asked.
-Of course I am! she laughed. I'm going to get it back, see you at dinner!
-Yeah, see you later" he winked, walking in direction of his room.
Clary had to admit that Jace was a really handsome guy. Actually, she had admitted it for a while. What's more, he was kind, smart and an excellent shadowhunter. But things had never gone further than friendship between them, probably because of Clary's business. First, her mother had been kidnapped by Valentine, and rescuing her had taken a while. It was how she had learnt that she was a shadowhunter. Then, her best friend Simon turned into a vampire, so she had to spend a lot of time with him. The strangest thing was that he was a very particular vampire, who could stand under the sun. Obviously, it hadn't got him a lot of vampire friends, but more enemies. In the same time, she had also discovered that she was Valentine's daughter, a man who wanted to destroy the entire Shadow World, and that Luke, the man she considered as her father, was a werewolf. Then, she had had to give up her art study to focus onto her shadowhunter training. However, even though she was allowed to go out of the institue whenever she wanted, preferably not alone, she could feel that people were keeping an eye on her because of her link with Valentine. Indeed, they were in war against him, so that was rather comprehensible, but she still didn't like those gazes on her. Of course, it was only coming from the managers of the institute or from the clave, never from her friends.
She entered the library, still in her sport bra, and grabbed her pencil and sketchbook. She put the Gray Book back on its shelf, and left the library, an idea on her mind: taking a shower. Once in her room, she closed the door and sat on her bed to untie her shoes. Then she took of her clothes and went in the bathroom adjoining her room. After a long shower, she left the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her body and another on her head. She picked up an outfit and put it on. As the diner was generally common, she would better not show up in pyjamas. Sometimes she would leave the institute and eat at home with her mother and Luke, or with Simon. Other times, they would go eat at Taki's with Jace, Alec, Izzy and sometimes Magnus or friends of the Lightwood family. But this was not the case today, so she just stayed in the simple outfit she had chosen, a loose shirt with skinny jeans. She unwrapped the towel she had on her head, combed out her hair and let it dry on her shoulders. It was now five thirty, and the dinner wouldn't start before seven thirty. Being very hungry, Clary slipped on some black low converses, grabbed her phone and headed toward the kitchen. Once there, she took a glass of orange juice and a bowl of cereals, and came back to her room.
Her room had a window through which Clary could see the buildings of New York. She carefully opened it, and sat on the edge of the window. Luckily, the edge was at least a meter, so she could not fall. Taking a sip of her orange juice, she took her phone and called her best friend.
"Hey Clary! What's up?
-I'm exhausted! I've trained the whole day!
Simon laughed.
-I see. Oh wait, what's that noise?
The ginger hair girl frowned.
-Which noise?
-Here, I've just heard it again!
Suddenly realizing what he was talking about, the red-headed started to laugh.
-Clary tell me! What's that noise? What's happening? he sounded a bit worried, but that only made her laugh even more.
-Clary, really, that's not funny! Tell me right now!
-Simon, I'm just eating cereals!
-Oh. Okay. You're eating cereals. You know it sounds very different through the phone. Like if a building was collapsing down. Okay it's a bit excessive. But you know it really sounds like that. Clary! Stop laughing! You frightened me!
Clary absolutely couldn't stop herself from laughing. Simon could be so funny!
-Si, I'm sorry but I just can't! You really think that if I was in a building collapsing down I would be laughing? Come on Si, come back to reality!
-Oh, you're right. I'm stupid sometimes, no? he laughed in return.
-No, absolutely not. I was wondering if you'd like to go to Starbucks with me tomorrow in the afternoon.
-With you, always! And you know that's not a problem, I always have an unity of O neg with me.
-Simon!
-What? I was kidding!
-Simon?
-Okay, not that much, but I'll take what I need with me, don't worry Fray.
Even though he couldn't see her, she raised her eyebrows.
-You're aware that it's Morgenstern now, aren't you?
-Oh yeah, true. But you know, habits... Anyway.
-And I still prefer Fray, she laughed. Oh, and I also wanted to pass to my house, I have to take back some stuffs. You'll come?
He sighed.
-Clary, of course I'll come, have you ever seen me abandoning you in the street to go back home?
She bit her lower lips, smiling.
-No. And that's better this way."
They continued talking for an hour more, and decided to meet up the next day around midday at the Starbucks. Clary was missing her best friend, they used to meet every day before her training started. Luckily, she only had to go running with Jace the next day. And when she would come back in the afternoon, she would probably spend some time in the training room, practicing with weapons this time. Going back to her room, Clary closed the window behind her. Then, her earphones in her ears, music in her head and sketchbook in hand, she went to the kitchen to put the bowl and the glass away. She headed one more time toward the library, and sat comfortably one of the sofas, next to the big window. Her music still on, she opened her sketchbook and after a while, started drawing Alec and Jace as she had seen them in the afternoon, facing each other, fists raised and ready to fight. She regretted not having taken different pencils with her, because Alec's hair would have deserved to be drawn with a darker pencil. Never mind, she would perfect Alec's hair later, she thought, and continued drawing. After a while, she was interrupted by someone calling her name.
"Clary? said Jace, standing in front of her. Concentrated on her drawing and music on her ears, she hadn't heard him coming. Putting away her earphones, she stopped her music.
-You coming? he asked her, it's time to eat!
-Yeah, sure!"
She closed her sketchbook, and felt Jace's eyes trying to get a glimpse of her drawing. Setting it down on the sofa, she stood up and joined the golden boy.