Hello, people, here is another Clace one-shot! This is the longest one-shot I had ever written, and it took me forever. Also, I had to research some stuff on Wikipedia, so there might be errors in what actually happened in World War II.
This one-shot is dedicated to all those soldiers that died for us in World War I and World War II.
Disclaimer: I do not own TMI.
Jace POV
Jace Herondale was in a bad mood. His army force had arrived in boats on the coast of northern France, and almost immediately, they were being shot by the guns the Nazis held, as if they were awaiting their arrival.
These people should get a hobby, Jace thought sorely, as the mad rampage played out before him. Don't they have anything better to do than to shoot people until they die?
He had been badly shot in the chest, the bullet shot into his upper shoulder. The shoreline's water was all soaked in blood, and looking at so much blood wanted to make him throw up.
He ran for cover, hoping not to attract too much attention to himself so he can get away to the camp that that the Allies have set up.
Looking over his shoulder, he could see that over half of the soldiers were bleeding to death, lying uselessly on the beach, with only seconds left. However, there were soldiers that were obviously still alive, limping just like Jace was, also heading towards the camp.
Wonder why no one's being shot anymore, Jace thought, but he didn't care because all he wanted right now was to get the stupid bullet out of his injured shoulder.
He stumbled over rocks and tree stumps that his agility normally wouldn't allow. He tripped more than he should have, but he kept on going, hoping to get to some hospitality.
Jace had no idea how much time had passed, but he finally arrived at the camp, hidden beneath all the trees and bushes that offered protection. He was immediately sent to the infirmary where he promptly passed out into a ditch of darkness.
It was going to hurt like hell when he woke up.
-yesjaceitwould-
His eyelids fluttered, consciousness slowly coming back to him. A cool towel was being pressed to his scalding forehead, and his shoulder felt a lot better than it had before, but he felt sort of weird, like all his senses weren't properly functioning.
He opened his eyes to see a young, red-headed nurse, staring back at him with her enticing green eyes. He tried to open his mouth to speak to her, but no words came out. He tried to get up, but he hissed in pain, his shoulder and back still aching from prior events.
"Slowly," The nurse helped him get up, and then gave him a small cup of fresh water, immediately soothing his scratchy, sore throat.
"Thank you," Jace thanked her, his eyes asking her for a name.
"Clary," She answered, which, in all honesty, was a very pretty name for a very pretty girl, Jace supposed.
"Clary." He finished, a small smile on his lips. "That's nice." She smiled but didn't reply, helping him get back into a lying position.
His hand somehow naturally found her pale hand, his large, calloused hand enveloping her own hand. She stared at him, and then moved to take away her hand. His hand tightened around her hand, refusing to let go.
She looked at him, her lips parting, probably to make some excuse for him to let go of her hand.
"Nah," He answered before she even asked the question, and drifted to go to sleep.
CLARY POV
Clary Fray was astounded. She had been sitting beside a mysterious, blonde man for the past three hours, just, staring at him. When he was sleeping, he looked so innocent, like a little boy back from a day of school.
Except, she knew the circumstances were very much different. He was probably one of the American soldiers sent to France to help. In the past day, a few thousand had come to the camp, getting trained for the battle that was inevitably coming.
She sighed, tucking her red locks behind her ear. She was so different from him, a first glance and you'll see. He radianted beauty, with his golden locks and striking, amber eyes. He was obviously fit and well-structured. Clary, on the other hand, was always the red-headed, green-eyed, girl who was always pushed around by everyone else.
And pushed around by everyone else she was. She was, betrothed to British hunk Sebastian Verlac, and was to marry him in the next year. Her Irish parents were so happy for her, always telling her how lucky she was to get such a gentleman like Sebastian himself.
Gentleman? Please. She fled from the loft she was staying at with Sebastian to France so she could help out with the war currently brewing. Why did she leave him? All he wanted to talk about was he, himself, and Sebastian Verlac. Sometimes, she thought her ears were bleeding because of all his "oh my, look at me" and "I'm so hot I could rival the sun".
Sebastian was very against the war, telling her that the war was none of her business and she was safer with him back at England. Her parents agreed, like most of the Irish population.
But Clary wanted to do something in the war. She had already taken as much med school as the law would let her, the sexist laws halting her from learning to the next level.
At the camp, she had definitely learned infinitely more than she would ever have learnt back at England, and she never once regretted her choice. She had some friends in the camp, including British Isabelle Lightwood and French Maia Roberts. If they were in a different predicament at a different time, a different place, a different world, Clary thought they surely would have been very close friends.
"Hey Clary, we need you at Base 3-" Isabelle Lightwood stopped in her tracks, taking in the scene before her eyes. "Mm, what do you have here?" Isabelle winked at her, and in two long strides, stood right beside her. "A hottie." Isabelle looked envious, scrutinizing their intertwined hands. "Nice, Clary."
Clary blushed furiously, a bit appalled at what was being suggested. "Look, it's actually nothing, he was just injured, and he was grabbing at my-"
"Yea, yea, whatever." Isabelle dismissively waved her hand at Clary, still grinning like crazy. "I thought you had a fiancé back in England."
Clary rolled her eyes, Isabelle and Maia just loved to tease her about being a bad fiancé and leaving him to nurse soldiers. "Yea, sure, married, yea yea."
"So, anyways, Base 3 needs you right now, lots of injured soldiers, apparently the Axis shot them like mad hell." Clary rolled her eyes again, Isabelle always found a way to see a shooting like nothing out of the ordinary.
"Alright, I'm going, I'm going." Slowly, she extracted her hand from his hand, realizing she doesn't even know his name. "Just watch over him while I'm gone. He had a bullet in his upper shoulder, which I had taken out, but his shoulder would still be feeling sore, so just make sure he's not in discomfort."
"Whatever you say, Midget." Clary tried to walk out with as much dignity as she could muster.
JACE POV
Jace woke up cold. Turning his head every so slightly, he saw the nurse, Clary, seeming to prepare bandaids, probably for other patients in need.
"Hey," His usual suaveness in his voice was gone, replaced by the geeky sort of sound that he thought would never come out of his mouth. Ew, he thought inwardly, groaning at his weak state.
"How are you feeling?" Clary asked him, with her back still turned to him.
"Awful," He replied honestly, feeling a bit of a sore throat and stuffy nose. He felt like a five-year old again, always needing to be in his bed and to be tucked in by his mother.
"Aw, poor you," She sounded only a bit sympathetic, but probably teasing him just a bit, the towel barely touching his very hot forehead. "You're probably going to be down for a few more days, but after this fever clears up, you'll be all fine and ready to go back to training."
"Training?"
"Yes, training. All the other soldier in your troop are doing it, getting ready for their line of soldiers coming up in two months."
He felt a bit nauseous, partly because of the thought of going out to war in two months, and another part because she actually knew what sort of strenuous training they went through. Even Jace himself, sometimes felt like the training was way too much. But his coach always pushed and pushed him, and he finally got through it.
Studying her from afar, he can see how physically tired she was, her back hunched and moves sometimes slowed. When she turns back to him to offer him water, he sees her wrinkles and her huge bags under her eyes, blatantly there for anyone to see.
He wished he can take away the stress, but he knew first hand that there really was no way for it to go away. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked her, even though he already knew what kind of answer he was going to get.
"Yes, I'm fine." Yes, of course, he thought, give me the most plain answer ever.
"Are you sure?" He pressed on, hoping to get more of an answer.
"Absolutely."
Two months later…
Jace rigged up his gun for one final aiming session. The next day, they were going out onto the battlefield in tanks. All the soldiers knew it would never be as sufficient as Hitler's nicely constructed tanks that he spent a few years in the making, but it was the best they had and they had to survive with what they had.
After the session was over, he went to dinner with the regular gang, consisting of Clary, Isabelle, Maia, Jonathan, Jordan, and himself. All three guys were in the same troop and were heading out tomorrow.
"Hey," He was the last one at the table, the others already halfway through their meal. "How's everyone feeling?"
Everything was very tense at the moment, the air sometimes so awkward you could slice it through with a knife.
Murmurs of consent came from around the table, with fines and okays.
He gave up, and went back to quietly eating his dinner.
All the soldiers were going to sleep early, having to wake up at four in the morning the next day to attack. The group all said their goodbyes, him hugging Clary for a bit longer than the rest of the girls. He closed his eyes as she was in his arms, taking in her scent of faint strawberries, wishing he could just stand there forever.
He'll have to admit, his feelings toward the little redhead had grown into something that was more than friends. In the past two months, their relationship had bonded so tightly, and he felt like she was a part of him.
He didn't know how she felt towards him, though. She had a fiancé back at her home, and even though she repeatedly told everyone how much she hated him, he still had his doubts and felt like she would go back to her fiancé in a few years.
He finished up his turn in the bathroom, leaving the light on for the next person. However, he was surprised to see Clary standing outside the bathroom, still in her nurse outfit, waiting for him to finish up.
"Yes?" He inquired, raising his eyebrows skeptically at her. "What do you want?"
For a moment, she didn't answer, and then she told him, "Come back."
"I dunno, midge." He, and everyone else, knew that there was a huge risk that every soldier that went out there was going to die. His coach prepared him for that situation, probably him bleeding to death in some sort of fashion. "You know, it's pretty rough times, and you know how all my family are back at America, and, I just, I don't know."
"Come back." She repeats, as if she didn't hear any of the rubbish he just said. "For me." Her green eyes stared back at his own amber eyes, boring a hole into his head. Then, she took two steps forward and kissed him on the lips.
His hands flew to her waist, and he kissed her back.
After a few seconds, they stopped and she looked at him, a final, silent plea for him to come back.
And then she was gone.
He stared at her retreating self, watching until he couldn't even see her shadow. He touched his own lips, wondering if that actually happened, or if it was just a figment of his imagination.
He didn't know what to think.
He didn't know what to do.
During the war…
BAM! A cry from somewhere behind him, he heard the last breaths of yet another soldier.
This was the moment all his training had led up to, he thought, the one final battle between good and bad. He was determined to get back, to his family, to his friends, to Clary. He had survived the first few weeks with only minor scars and bruisings, but this was his chance to finally make a lasting impact.
From the corner of his eye, he watched as the enemy made an aim to shoot at Jonathan. "Jonathan, look out!" Jonathan ducked just in time, and the bullet hit one of the enemies.
"Thanks man." Jonathan and Jace were now very close, having lost Jordan just last week when Jordan stepped on a bomb. They never found any traces of his body, probably blown into smithereens.
Together, they fought through the war. It was a tough time for the fifty soldiers left, fighting for what little they had now.
They had started out with thirty thousand. So many deaths. So many had died for this war that some power-thirsty guy had created.
And the ironic thing was, Jace never even saw that guy himself.
Probably too scared, hiding behind his throne of immense power, Jace thought bitterly, taking another aim at the guy who tried to shoot Jonathan.
The guy was dead within five seconds.
Jace ought to feel guilty, killing off so many people in the war. And at first, he did, stopping every time he killed someone, anyone, because even though those were the enemies, they were people, and they probably had families, friends, partners that they had, just like Jace himself.
But if Jace were to learn one thing from this gruesome time, it was that life was never a fair play. One would always be cheated of something, either their families, their money, their lives- it was all nothing in the end.
"Jace, duck!" Jace was so stupid sometimes. Even after hearing the phrase so many times, he still froze for a second when hearing that word, duck. Those yellow creatures scared the heck out of him, their quacks always causing him to shudder.
The bullet shot deeply into his chest.
"Dude, what did you think you were doing?" Jonathan's concerned voice asked him, trying to stop the blood flow. "Dude, if you die on me…"
His voice slowly started to grow fainter and fainter.
Jace's last thought was Clary before his eyes closed for possibly the last time.
Later on…
Surprisingly, he opened his eyes again to see the worried face of his angel, Clary. Her face was sleeping, her breaths in short tuffs, in and out and in and out. She looked stressed out, her hand firmly clasped in his own.
He rolled over, wincing at the pain. He watched as she opened her eyes to his waking face.
She looked genuinely surprised to see his eyes looking back at her.
"Jace? You're, you're awake?"
"Yea." He answered, sort of breathy, feeling like she grew even more beautiful than the last time he saw her.
She hugged him, crying, and he hugged her back so furiously, feeling like he was the one to blame for those tears. She doesn't deserve to be crying, he thought, as he tried to wipe away her tears.
"Hey, it's okay." He whispered to her, his hands cupping her face.
"I thought," She hiccupped, obviously shaken by the turn of the events. "I thought you were gone forever. You were in a coma for a week!"
"Hey, you know I'll never leave you." He reassured her, still wiping away her tears. "After all, I had to come back to you, don't I?" He joked in vain, and in response, she kissed him.
The kiss was chaste, short and sweet.
She started looking over him, looking truly worried.
This girl meant absolutely everything to me, Jace realized, as he watched her fuss about him and tending to his wounds.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asked for the millionth time. But Jace was okay with it, after all, he was here and she was here, what more could he possibly want?
"I have everything I need right here." He answered truthfully.
She smiled at him, just like how she did when she had first met him.
They were going to be alright.
A few weeks later…
"I'm going to be fine." Jace reassured Clary, although he didn't know whether he was reassuring Clary or himself.
"I know, it's just that- you know, I just."
"Yeah, I do." Jace smiled a bit bitterly, sad he had to leave again. He was called to break out the prisoners in the Auschwitz camp, a place where they reportedly found the Germans torturing Jews to death in southern Poland. "It's okay, I'll be back before you know it."
"You better be," Clary sniffed again, hugging him tightly. "You better go before the rest leaves."
"I should." And with a last glance at her, he makes his way out.
A few days later, they find themselves at this so called camp, train tracks leading to what seemed to be a normal looking community.
But they all knew better.
"Here we go," They all ran the plan through their head for the billionth time, Jace knew the plan so well it was like the back of his hand.
"Places, men." All the soldiers ran to their assigned spots around camp, avoiding all the guards walking around the perimeter of the camp. They all hid behind shrubs, trees, bushes, their attire camouflaging them.
In between the wires, Jace saw tons and tons of Jews, being led into a small crevice in the ground to presumably a building underground. Wonder what they'll be doing down there, Jace thought briefly.
But he had no more time, because they were spotted.
The battle had begun.
Later…
"We have to lead them out! Quickly!" It seemed like a good suggestion at first, but they all saw the conditions of the prisoners in the camp, and getting them out would take forever.
"Come on guys," Jace beckoned with his head, pointing at a different route around the camp. "Let's go this way."
CLARY POV
Clary knew she shouldn't be too worried. She knew that Jace could take care of himself and everything, but she couldn't help but feel a bit worried for her boyfriend.
Boyfriend. After being engaged to a crap fiancé for who-know-how-long, Jace actually made her feel loved and he was a wonderful boyfriend, even though they had only been dating for a few weeks.
She hadn't seen Jace himself in a week, him having to go to Auschwitz to retrieve the Jewish prisoners that were taken into custody.
She just came back from her lunch, ready for another six hours of grueling work. The war was tough, and sometimes from all the work caused by it, she felt like she could drop dead in the middle of it. But she was stronger than that, she and everyone else around her knew that.
Halfway through the afternoon, she was surprised to hear the door knock. Normally, people knew not to interrupt her working and knew how much of a fit she could throw if she was interrupted.
"Yes?" She threw open the door, annoyed at the interruption. "What-"
Standing in front of her was someone she thought she would never see again.
Sebastian.
"What are you doing here?" Clary inquired, trying but failing to do the eyebrow-raising thing. "I thought you were back at England."
"I was." Sebastian hissed, and Clary thought she had never seen anyone as angry as him right now. "But can't I visit my fiancé sometimes?"
"How did you even know where I was?" Clary turned her back to him, resuming taking care of the 22-year old patient who was currently in a coma.
"A little birdie told me." Clary's eyes narrowed, it was never good when Sebastian said that, but knowing Sebastian, he was just angry and needed to let out a bit of steam.
"Okay." Clary didn't feed nor take away the fire that she knew was burning in Sebastian's veins, merely casting him away as she went to clean the dirty towel in her hand.
"Clary, Clary, you naughty, naughty girl." Clary froze for a second, but tried not to slip up, continuing to help around the tent that was temporarily set up.
"What?" Her voice sounded chocked, unlike the neutrality that she was going for.
"Your parents are very disappointed in you." The sick monster started, exaggerating his word, slurring them from one to another. "How could you, leaving your wonderful fiancé behind while you go ahead and help these worthless people? Do you know how much your dear partner cried when you left? He was oh so, broken, you know."
Clary had to roll her eyes, yes, even when it was her who left, Sebastian once again managed to make it all about him, him, and him.
"But it's okay, you know. Dear Sebastian helped your parents through their suffering, told them that it was alright, that little petite Clary would come back to them. But the thing was, you didn't."
"Sebastian, I really don't have time for this, I have-"
"After half a year of your absence, I got tired of waiting. So guess what? I moved on."
Clary scoffed. "My parents would never had let you do that."
"Oh, but that was the catch. They actually pushed me to do it."
Clary didn't know what to believe.
"So actually, right now, I'm happily married to a wonderful girl, far better than you will ever be."
His words stung a bit, but she didn't let him see that.
"So, just a few weeks prior, I was meeting up with a buddy, Alec Lightwood." Isabelle's brother. "He happened to let something slip that he might have known you through his gorgeous sister, Isabelle Lightwood, and I got him to spill."
"How?" Clary wondered, from what Isabelle told her, Alec was an honest guy and would never tell anyone the whereabouts of the camp.
"I blackmailed him. He's gay. With Magnus."
Clary couldn't believe he could do something so cruel.
"So, you know, I'm just here to tell you about the life you could have had if you weren't so stupid and left me. And that you have no home to go to now, I hate you, your parents don't want you, nothing is left on your account."
"Oh please, I don't need you or my parents, my life was so much better here than with you."
"Really?" Sebastian challenged her, egging her to go on.
"Yes," Clary confirmed, and decided to tell him just a little piece of her mind. "I have a boyfriend here, you know. And he accomplished far more than any of your law school can go."
She kicked him out right after that.
Days after the Sebastian incident, word had spread around the camp that the Auschwitz raiding has come back. Every single tent was set up for the injured survivors, beds crammed into every corner of the bases.
There were two nurses for each camp, and for the time being, all they could do is await their arrival.
"They're here!" Everyone was on the edge, ready to see all the blood and gore.
A huge group of people were walking along the horizon.
All of them seemed to have some sort of error, whether it was a limp or a shot limb.
"Let's hurry!" Immediately, they were all rushed, and Clary tended to as many as possible. Some were more serious than others, and she tended to all the wounds, deciding to visit Jace later on.
The Jewish man she was tending to looked familiar. After she removed his broken glasses, she gasped at who she saw.
"Simon?" She asked, not believing her own voice.
He looked up to her, smiling a bit.
"Hi Clary," Simon was an exchange student that was sent into her family's care for three weeks. They had grown to be close friends, but when he was sent back, all communication was cut, due to rough times that were caused by the Germans.
"Wow, you grew." She realized, and he smiled at her.
"I did, didn't I?" He joked a bit, but hissed at the pain that it brought.
"Oh no, do you need anything? I'll go get you some ice, it'll make the burns feel better, and I'm so sorry-"
"Just stay here with me." He breathed one last breath, and Clary watched as he closed his eyes for the last time, falling into a peaceful slumber.
She kissed his forehead and tucked in his covers.
He was in peace, now. He was up there.
JACE POV
Jace was wondering why Clary had yet to visit him.
But when he saw his red-haired angel, he smiled at her.
"Hello," He greeted her, and she looked at him sadly. "What's wrong?"
"I met a guy who was an exchange student that I used to know. He was a Jew who was in the concentration camp, and he just recently died in my base." She looked distressed and in tears.
Jace felt sorry for her, it was another life that would never live again, never breathe again, never feel again, never love again.
"It's alright." If he had a dime for everytime he said that line to anyone in the past few months, he would be rich. It was such an overused line that it became so cliché.
"I know." But that was such a lie.
A month later…
"It's time to go, Americans!" The soldier were leaving, returning to their homeland, where after the long war, they could finally return to their families.
But Jace didn't want to leave. He had Clary, after all, and no matter how much pleading he did, she refused to go back to America with him, even though she had no home in Europe.
"I could go back to England with Isabelle, it'll be fine." She said, not taking up his offer. "I don't want to intrude on your family time."
"You won't be!" Jace protested, "Really! You can live with me!"
"Really, Jace, I can't."
So here they were, saying their last goodbyes for probably forever, never to ever see each other again. Jace seriously wished it didn't have to be this way, but it was and there was nothing he could do about it.
"So, I guess this is it."
"It is." Clary stared back at him, a silence between them.
"I'll miss you," Jace told her, hugging her so tightly her lungs could have collapsed.
"Me, too."
"Maybe, if fate would have it, if we were meant to be, we'll meet each other again."
"Maybe." Clary agreed, though she looked like she hardly believed it.
"Love you."
"Love you, too."
And he left, left with an ache in his heart and his body. It felt wrong, leaving her like that, but he had to.
It was what she wanted.
And if it was what she wanted, it was what he wanted, too.
But he wasn't convinced.
Five years later…
Jace stepped on the grounds of Britain, inhaling the morning air. There was a fresh mist surrounding the airport area, and it looked almost peaceful, as if there wasn't a war only five years prior.
Jonathan stood beside him, and they both headed out to the hotel they were staying at.
Sure, they were here as tourists and visitors, wanting to see the sights of London.
But they were also here for the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Since Jordan had been blown into bits, he was somewhere here, and they wanted to visit Westminster Abbey to honor their loyal friend.
After settling in, they immediately headed out to the location, walking on the sleek pavements, and enjoying the peaceful aura that they never really enjoyed in New York.
They arrived at the black tomb that was surrounded by poppies.
They sat at the foot of the Tomb of The Unknown Warrior, and they sat in silence.
There were other people around the tomb, but they were concentrated on their friend, Jordan, who died in an unfortunate circumstance.
"Hey, I'm gonna go back to the hotel, first." Jonathan whispered, and Jace nodded in consent, still staring at the marble. He heard Jonathan go, and continued to look at the tomb.
Someone with flaming red hair sat beside them. He tried to ignore her, but her hair got in the way, so he asked as politely as possible, "Hey, could you move your hair out of the way?"
She turned to him.
It was Clary.
For a moment, they just stared at each other, thinking, This could not be possible.
But it was.
And they had met again.
"I thought you were gone forever." They hugged and kissed, acting like their five years absence was never there at all.
"I'm here to stay." Jace said, and he was going to stay, for now, and forever.
Sure, wars were cruel, and they tore families apart. But for Jace and Clary, the war, after all this time, brought them together.
Together forever.
So, I wanted to post this today, because it's Remembrance Day today! At least, it is in Canada! I don't know for other countries, though. However, I think that in the US, they call it Veterans' Day, right?
If I got any grammar, punctuation, or information on the war wrong, I'm sorry! Please tell me in a review, and I would change it. I only started high school, and we never even learned that much on World War II either, so all this information is from Wikipedia.
Let's remember the soldiers that died for us, so we can live the life we are living today!