Jace spun around just as Clary stumbled and fell, Sebastian leaning over her, a seraph blade in his right hand. Jace, ignoring the stinging in his left wrist from demon Ichor, sprinted towards Clary, both seraph blades named for angels casting weird shadows in the dark alleyway of New York. Sebastian raised the angel blade - named Selaphiel - and quicker than Jace had thought possible, plunged it down and into Clary's chest. She looked up at his face as a flower of blood spread from where the blade had pierced her skin. A look that said; remember me. Then the light in her bright green eyes faded, her head fell back, and her whole body went limp. Satisfied, Sebastian pulled the angel blade out of Clary's chest and wiped her blood off on his battle gear.
Jace froze. Clary. His heart fell like it had been wrentched from his chest and cut into a thousand tiny pieces. Sebastian straightened, took one look at Jace's face, and laughed. Something in Jace cracked; the part of him that had always kept himself from doing anything really stupid, something that could really get himself killed. He had only valued his life because Clary had made him see. And she was no longer with him.

Jace was vaguely aware of someone dragging Clary's body from the alleyway, and with a quick glance he saw that it was Isabelle, her golden whip covered in blood and wrapped around her waist like a belt. Reassured that what was left of Clary in this world wasn't being mutilated by demons, Jace's vision went white and he charged Sebastian. Briefly, he remembered the day by the lake, the first time he had killed Sbeastian. If only he had stayed dead, Clary would still be alive.

The next few minutes for Jace was a blur of white from the seraph blades, and black flashes from Sebastian's gear. Fighting him was not like anything Jace had experienced with demons before. Even the greater demons, like Abbadon, hadn't been this quick, this agile, and thought it pained Jace to admit it, this good at fighting.

"Jace!" A voice, desperate, called out from behind him. It was Alec.

"No, Alec, he's mine!"
"Jace, you can't do this alone-" Quick as a flash, Sebastian averted his attention from Jace and whipped toward Alec. Sebastian caught him in the mid-rif and cut length-wise, causing Alec to fall to the ground as Clary had, hand splayed across his stomach. Sebastian raised the angel blade to finish him off, just as blue sparks erupted from behind them, sending Sebastian's blade spinning out of his hands, landing a few meters away from Jace.

Jace looked up, and with some surprise, saw Magnus Bane standing in the entrance of the alleyway, looking regal in a black suit and cape, blue sparks dancing on the tips of his fingers.

"Not. My. Nephilim." Magnus said, sending blue flames toward Sebastian. Quick as a flash, he moved out of the path of the fire, still standing above the bleeding Alec.

"Half blood bitch," Sebastian snarled. He pulled a red-hilted dagger from his belt and started at Magnus.
With Sebastian's attention off Alec, Jace kneeled down next to his parabatai and carefully peeled his gear off. Hastily, he drew a Iratze over Alec's heart, just above the line of the cut. For a moment, Jace watched the skin stitch itself back together, then wrenched his mind back to the present moment. Jace couldn't see either Magnus nor Sebastian in the alleyway. It seemed to be only him and Alec left, surrounded by pools of Shadowhunter and demon blood, mixing together.

Until something hard hit Jace in the back of the head and he fell forward, unconcious.

Jace awoke to the sound of multiple voices, all surrounding the bed he lay on in the infirmary. Everything was so blindingly white, obscuring his vision for a moment while his eyes adjusted. Isabelle's face became clear above him, her black hair falling around her face as she leaned over him.

"Iz?" Jace asked, sitting up. Isabelle jerked back to avoid hitting their heads together. Sunlight streamed through the window at the back of the room, where Jocelyn sat, her head in her hands. Momentarily, Jace wondered what she was doing at the Institute. Then his eyes slid over to the figure lying in the bed closest to the window. Her red hair was spread across the pillow, and her skin was a pale, corpse white. Clary.

"Jace," Isabelle said softly, and ony then did Jace realise that her eyes were puffy and red, and that her voice was hoarse from crying. "The funeral is tonight. Five."
Jace nodded, for some reason, when he tried to speak, something rose up in his throat and cut off any words.

Jace stood in the meadow of Idris, staring idly at the rows of chairs set up facing an open coffin. Magnus, after spending the day talking with Alec, agreed to set up a portal that would take them here for Clary's funeral.

It seemed that Magnus had resolved his problem with Alec, as he had been close to suicide because of their relationship. Magnus had seen this as a sign of faith, and they were trying to make things work.
"Jace." It was Jocelyn. Mentally, Jace recoiled away from her, just stopping himself from doing it in real life. Jocelyn had never accepted his and Clary's relationship, and she probably thought he hadn't done whatever he could to stop Clary's death. "Can i talk to you?"
"Sure," Jace said, following her in the opposite direction of the coffin, towards a small cottage. It rested just beside a sparkling, clear blue lake, the cottage's bricks crumbling with water and old age. It made it looked antique, and as Clary would have put it, 'cute.'

Jocelyn led Jace right up to the waterside, staring down at her wavering reflection in the water. Jace wondered if this was what Clary would like if she had had the chance to grow up...

Stop it! Jace chided himself. But it ws no use, his thoughts continued along the lines of Clary as Jocelyn started speaking.

"I know that in the past, i haven't been very understanding of yours and -Clary's-" she choked on the name of her daughter, then coughed and continued, "relationship but..." she fell silent.

very understanding? Jace thought, staring at his reflection in the water, now that's an understatement.

Jocelyn cleared her throat and continued, not expecting Jace to meet her eyes. "I - I just wanted you to know that she loved you Jace. She never has loved anyone but you."

Jace swallowed, a sharp pain settling in his chest as he remembered the look on her face when she died. Remember me. But how could he ever forget her?

"I know," he said quietly.

Jocelyn looked sideways at him. "We know how you feel Jace, remember that we're always here for you, ok?"

Jace nodded, and, suddenly he didn't feel like being around anyone. How could they know how he felt? Yes, they'd loved her. But not the way he had. Never the way he had.

Slowly, Jace turned and walked away from the lake. He could feel Jocelyn's eyes on his back, and he knew that she meant what she'd said. But that didn't mean anything.

It was his fault she was dead, he could have just done something, instead of standing there watching like a stupefied demon. Once again, Clary's face floated into his mind, except this time she was dead. Her eyes were sunken and had dark shadows under them. Her skin was so pale, a startling comparison to her flaming red hair.

He watched as Luke arrived in his pick-up truck, with something bulky hidden in the back under a white sheet.

Then, Jace had the sudden urge to be away, anywhere that wasn't near Clary's motionless body.

He ran.

Jace sat, not moving in a chair next to his window, staring down at the night-time scenery from the Institute's fourth floor. He heard the door creak open but didn't turn his head. He knew who it would be. Alec, or Izzy, trying to reassure him that Clary's death wasn't his fault.

"Jace?" Alec asked softly, padding into his room and carefully sitting down on his bed.

Jace made no sound, but Alec took this as a sign to continue. "Look, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have known Sebastian would be there. None of this did, we all expected it to be a normal nights' patrol at Pandemonium."

"I shouldn't have let her come. She wasn't ready." Jace finally spoke, his words emotionless and his face blank.

"She was ready. She'd been training for years. It was just unfortunate Sebastian picked this night."

"unfortunate?" Jace hissed, spinning around in his chair.

Alec's expression turned to panic. "Jace, i didn't mean-"

"Out. Get out."

"But-"

"Now."

Without another word, Alec pushed himself up off the bed and walked out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind him.

Jace sat in his chair, staring at the door, for hours, until the room became so dark he could hardly see a thing. He was just considering a very late night training session to work away his pain when his door creaked open again.

Jace, expecting Alec, said, "go away Alec, i don't want to see you."

"Jace?" asked a soft voice. It wasn't Alec-

Jace leaped off his chair, seized his seraph blade off his bedside table, whispered, "Nakir," and sunk to the ground in a crouch. The light illuminated the room, allowing Jace to see what he so desperately had wanted to see.

A girl stood in his doorway, face eerily pale, red hair clumped with mud and messily falling over her shouders, her hand outstretched towards him. Clary.