DISCLAIMER- I do not own the Mortal Instruments or any of its characters or the song 'Crash'
AN/ This is my first fanfic and any feedback would be great :) Thanks for reading!
"Wait, where are you going?" The golden-haired boy took the girl's porcelain wrist into his hand as she headed towards the door. Her wide green eyes glanced down at where his calloused fingers wrapped around her delicate bones and she winced ever so slightly.
"Please let me go, Jace." She choked out the name, as if it was poison, and wrenched herself from his grip. "You've never cared before, so don't start when it's too late." She turned away quickly, but he still caught the telltale glimmer of water in her eyes.
"Please, love, I'm trying." His earnest tones were filled with hurt, yet clouded over with puerile impatience.
"Don't call me love with her lipstick still on your shirt."
His sharp intake of breath was followed by the slam of the door.
She didn't come back that night.
/\\\
"Isabelle," He pleaded into the phone, which was gripped tightly within his hand, "just tell me whether or not they're together."
A threadbare sigh was audible through the speaker, "Jace, I really don't care-"
The dial tone echoed through the apartment as the boy stared in bewildered surprise at his phone. His sister rarely hung up, it was only while she was pining over somebody and reeling in self-pity when she stopped listening to everyone else. Nonetheless, he already had one girl on his mind and she wasn't leaving any time soon.
Within minutes he was meandering up to an old house, bearing his weight on his toes and staying in the shadows; trying to be as quiet and indiscernible as possible. He looked with anxious eyes into the window and saw them. They were lying together on a well-worn sofa, legs innocently entwined, fully clothed, with a battle scene rattling away in the background and pizza boxes strewn on the floor. It wasn't very romantic.
Despite it all, he still couldn't get rid of that doubt.
/\\\
One by one her things started to leave his apartment. It started with her favourite lime green coffee mug, slightly faded from over-use and chipped from when he had startled her last Halloween. Then it was her bright, intricate drawings that decorated the off-white walls, the beaded pillows that were surprisingly comfortable to a weary head, the multitude of green apple Yankee candles that she was obsessed with and everything else that made the apartment a home. His heart broke with every new discovery.
"Clary, please…"
She turned around slowly, her arms carefully cradling her last cardboard box of belongings that she stubbornly refused to let him carry. "Please what, Jace? We're over. You don't get to ask anything anymore."
"Clary-"
Her eyes may have burned but her words scorched like fire, "I gave you my everything, Jace. You gave me nothing but lies."
"Clary, wait…" his voice broke, tinting the scene with a bittersweet caring, "…just don't forget about me. About us."
She turned away quickly so he couldn't see the tears rapidly gathering in her eyes.
"You'll always have a place in my heart," He carried on talking to her back, imploring her to see his state of mind. "I'll wait for you and -him- to work things out. I'll wait for you to leave him."
She opened the door and looked over her shoulder, tears obstinately hanging onto her copper eyelashes, "His name is Simon."
He visibly flinched, "I'll wait, Clary."
All of the life in the room escaped as the door slammed shut.
"I'll wait for you."
/\\\
Months had passed but nothing had changed. His heart was still broken and he was still searching for a remedy, preferably with red hair.
The heavy bass notes pounded through the club as he made his way to the bar. He leant up against the counter, ordered his usual and watched as people snaked around each other in rhythm to the resonating music. Sweat slicked bodies, tight black dresses and throat burning alcohol. It was all getting quite mundane.
Suddenly, as if on cue, there was a brief flash of red. Like fire.
His predatory eyes landed on a familiar figure. Her flaming hair was flowing freely down to her waist, her pale skin was covered in a light sheen of sweat and her slender, artistic hands were wrapped around someone else's shoulders. Someone else's hands were gripping her hips. Someone else's lips were pressed roughly against hers.
Without thinking, he sprang to his feet and his fist soon found its way into someone else's jaw.
"Jace!" She screamed, scrabbling to catch a hold of his shirt. "Stop!"
"He was harassing you." He yelled back at her, dismissing the injured person lying on the floor.
"Simon is my boyfriend." She shouted over the music, her eyes wide and wild.
The air rushed out of his lungs. His fears, his doubts and his suspicions had become a reality. "Why didn't you tell me?" He choked out.
"Why should I?" She stared at him accusingly, "I don't even know you anymore." He was no longer hers; she was no longer his. Her figure may have melted back into the crowd but those words stayed for the rest of the moonless night.
/\\\
Slender fingers wrapped around his on the table. They were soft and undamaged, like silk. They gave his hand a gentle squeeze before letting go. His eyes wandered from had to wrist, from wrist to shoulder and then stared deep into the beholder's eyes. Warm brown irises glittered back at him.
It wasn't right.
"Honey, what would you like to order?" A sweet, oblivious voice asked him.
It just wasn't right.
He cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. The speech he had been planning for weeks seemed pointless and fake, blunt truths blurted out of his mouth instead. "I'm sorry, Aline." His eyes darted downwards and he drew his hands off the table, "But it's just not working."
His chest felt a little heavier as he left the cafe.
/\\\
It'd been years. Memories had been made, changes undergone, but one thing had remained. His heart still belonged to her. "Clary, hear me out." He spoke to her through the phone.
She breathed in with surprise at the unexpected caller before plastering on an unaffected persona, "What do you want, Jace?" It had been so long since he had heard her voice, but this wasn't her. It was too cold and unresponsive.
"A second chance…" An audible sigh escaped through the phone. "We were young; I was stupid. I messed up!" He sounded desperate, pleading, hopeless.
"Jace…" Her voice weakened, "Whatever I felt for you wasn't really love, it has run its track."
"Please-" He hiccuped over the burning pain in his throat, trying not to sound like the broken boy she had left behind. "I've changed, for the better-for you."
"I'm sorry but you need to let me go." Her quiet words were followed by the click of the phone.
Letting her go wasn't an option. Instead, he was left a prisoner of his love.
/\\\
He passed them by on the street, the boy with the glasses and her. She was as beautiful as ever but something was wrong. Her eyes weren't as light as they used to be, her shoulders were tensed up and her hands swung in limp fists by her sides. The boy walked oddly as well, glancing from side to side uneasily, with his hands thrust deep into his pockets and his head hanging low.
They weren't enjoying it anymore. He could see by the way that her eyes stayed dull when she looked at the boy that their connection had long since passed. They were staying together for practicality. It had become a routine, a meaningless routine.
She deserved better that this, he thought to himself. She didn't deserve to just be going through the motions. She needed love and passion and fire. She needed him.
He looked guiltily towards where he was going, the club, to drown his worthless sorrows and exchange company with a compliant stranger. It had become another meaningless routine, that couldn't be denied. But he yearned for love and passion and fire. He yearned for her.
His eyes drifted towards them again, like a moth drawn to a flame and her eyes suddenly glanced across the street and latched onto his. A hint of something started within them; it could've been passion or hatred.
Either way, it was enough.
/\\\
He couldn't get that look out of his head. Hope had undeniably been rekindled within his chest. For once, he felt like his love for her wasn't a lost cause. For once, he felt as though his heart could be remade. For once, he felt as though he could make things right.
The girl in front of him was just another distraction.
"Jacie, why aren'y you listening to me?" Her whiny voice grated on his eardrums, it was wrong. Her plastered-on makeup was wrong. Her fake pink nails hammering away on the worktop were wrong. Her bottle-blonde hair and icy blue eyes staring hard at his face, seeing nothing but boasting rights, were wrong.
Everything was wrong.
It wasn't her.
He spoke with neither thought nor regret as he stood up abruptly and made his way to the door, "Goodbye, Kaelie."
The door shut fast on his final distraction.
/\\\
She was waiting for him on the bridge as promised. It was where they had first professed their love for each other; years later he hoped that sentimentality would win her over. Her slender frame turned towards him upon hearing his hurried footsteps.
"You came." He breathed a sigh of relief before resting his forearms on the iron railing in front of him and tilting his head towards her.
"Unlike some people, I keep my promises." Her hushed words were unforgiving and still found purchase on his healing heart.
He winced fiercely, looking down dejectedly to the murky water below, "Clary, I'm so sor-"
"Stop." She interjected.
He heard the finality in her solemn tones and knew that this was the turning point. His heart suddenly started free falling. Spiralling downwards, about to crash. He stood up straight, corrected his posture and faced her. Her eyes were frozen over and searching his face. He saw the moment she reached a decision, he saw her eyes soften and lips curl upwards.
/\\\
She walked up towards him, her head barely reaching his shoulders, "There is no point pretending." She wrapped her arms securely around his waist, "I love you and I will always love you, and pretending it could be any other way is a waste of time."
His heart skipped a beat, a massive grin ripped across his face and an immeasurable amount of relief spread through his body. After years of waiting, he could finally breathe easy.
/\\\
He held her slight figure tightly in his arms and stated resolutely into her hair, "I'm never letting you go again."
She drew back and with a rueful smile said, "Let's make this work, second time around," He smiled abashedly at her, basking in her forgiveness that would never again be forsaken.
As the sun began to set and beautiful colours filled the sky, two silhouettes embraced and passed the night away. Years of change had long since gone. But when wrapped up in familiar arms after so long, it was like coming home.
/\\\
Their passionate embraces and sporadic arguments tore down any inhibitions they might have once had. It might not have been perfect, but it was fierce and true. It burned like fire. Neither one was scared to battle with the other, to argue and make their view heard. But they weren't shy to rely on each other either, to need one and other.
Nothing could tear them apart.
They were happy.
/\\\
His golden eyes peered up towards the radiant girl in front of him. She had never looked so beautiful. He took a deep breath and prepared to speak, "Clary, I remember when I first saw you. That quiet little girl with the red hair, sat on her own under the old willow tree. We were complete opposites; me with my immense popularity and unbelievable prowess with a football," He paused for the snickers in the crowd to dissipate, "and then you, the girl who would rather spend an evening on Netflix watching anime, than go to a party and get completely smashed. But I guess it's true," His eyes shone brighter than the gold ring in his hand, "opposites really do attract,"
/\\\
With great care and reverent admiration he slid the golden ring onto her finger, "There's no doubt about it Clary Herondale, I love you, and I will love you until I die and if there's a life after that, I'll love you then."
Minutes later their lips crashed together and their love were confirmed and proclaimed to their little world.
/\\\
The sun finally sunk into the horizon, surrounded by vivid and bold colours. A young couple was walking along a beach somewhere, watching the sunset and reminiscing about the past; stories about football games, pretzel stands and spilt soda; about ice skating, fumbling hands and first dates. They were both caught up in the past, though doubtlessly excited for the future.
Their arms wrapped around each other as the waves crashed down on the sand. They sat side-by-side and stared as the colours in the sky slowly faded and the night shrouded the idyllic scenery in a comfortable shadow. The boy turned to face the girl, his eyes shining in the moonlight, "This is really going to work isn't it,"
She grinned childishly and whispered, "Second time lucky."
/\\\
Their life together was nothing out of the ordinary. It was filled with puerile disagreements, heart-felt embraces, worn-out smiles and insincere apologies. Memories were made and others forgotten: falling down clumsily in the snow together after a fearsome snowball fight, listening to thunder crash above their heads as they huddled together in a tent, falling for a swaddled bundle of sticky fingers and tiny toes, and another a few years later.
Their lives were lived and loved together.
/\\\
A man stood, surrounded by others, as his love was lowered into the ground. He wasn't alone but was made distinguishably lonely by the look of pure loss on his face. He felt as though his heart had fallen into the dirt with her.
Soil crashed down onto the box encasing her body. Her soul had long since escaped into the wind. Her heart had finally beaten its last song.
Tears crashed down his wrinkled face and fell onto her flower-covered resting place. His knees gave way as he fell to the floor and wept. He would never let her go.