Disclaimer: The Mortal Instruments is owned by Cassandra Clare. I don't own anything except for the plot of The Falling Star. I'm just messing around and having fun with the characters.
October 10th 1999
"Mommy, do we really have to go to the park with the Frays? I wanted to play with some friends from school, not babysit little Clary," a small blond-haired boy tugged on his mother's shirt as he whined.
"Why don't you invite those friends of yours to come along?" Celine Herondale told her son while she continued to pack a picnic for the two families.
"It won't be the same," the boy grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.
"Why not? I thought you liked to play with Clary."
"Of course I do. She's my friend." The boy rolled his eyes.
"Then I don't see why you can't spend the day with all of them."
Celine packed the last of the food into the picnic basket before kneeling down so that she was at eye level with her six-year-old son.
"Why don't you tell me what's really wrong, Jace?" she asked softly as she stroked his messy blond hair gently.
Jace gazed momentarily into her eyes before looking down at his feet. "Meliorn and Gabriel keep laughing at me because Clary is always following me around whenever we play."
"Well, maybe you can tell Clary that you don't want her to follow you around while you're playing with other people. I'm sure she'll understand and find something else to do."
"Really?" he asked uncertainly.
Celine nodded.
Jace brightened up instantly. "Okay! I'll go ask them to join us at the park!"
Celine ruffled his hair affectionately before he sped off in the direction of the landline. His smile was exactly the same as his father's.
T.F.S*
"Jace! Over here!"
Jace turned his head automatically in the direction of the voice. A small red-haired girl bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet as she smiled and waved at him.
He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm at seeing him.
With Celine's permission, he ran over to the little girl and embraced her in a quick hug.
"Hello, little Clary. Did you miss me?"
Clary nodded vigorously, her green eyes sparkling with happiness.
"I missed you too," he said softly, holding her hand and leading her over to the edge of the woods adjacent to the park.
"Don't go too far out, Jace!" Stephen Herondale called out to his son from where he was setting up the picnic blanket.
Jace nodded back in acknowledgment before turning his attention back to the girl beside him.
She was very pretty for a four-year-old girl. Her long red curls framed her chubby cheeks perfectly and her green eyes captivated everyone in a ten foot radius when she smiled.
Jace could hardly bear to tell her that he didn't want her around when his friends are around.
They walked silently along the edge of the woods, enjoying the slight breeze.
Just as Jace summoned the courage to tell her the words, the sounds of his friends calling him over reached his ears.
He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He tugged his other hand away from hers and headed back without a backward glance at her.
Clary stared at him in confusion for a few seconds before following after him like she always did.
"Hey, Jace let's go trekking in the woods! We can have an adventure, just the three of us. Your girlfriend is not invited," Meliorn put his arm around Jace's shoulders and jerked his head in the direction Clary was standing.
"Dad! Can I go?" Jace pointed to the woods as he gave an angelic smile.
Stephen eyed the woods, worry evident in his expression. "Don't stray off the path all right? And return here before night falls!"
"I will," Jace promised as he high-fived his two pals. After swiping some finger sandwiches from the picnic basket, Jace ran after his friends who'd already set off into the moderate canopy of trees.
Clary eyed the forest warily. Her mother told her never to run off into the forest by herself. She walked hesitantly toward the trees.
"Clary! Where do you think you're going?"
Clary spun around immediately, her face flushing at getting caught.
Luke Garroway knelt down in front of her so that she wouldn't have to crane her neck just to look at him.
"Jace ran off into the woods," she mumbled, not meeting his eyes.
"Why didn't he wait for you?" he asked, tilting her chin up so that she had to look into his eyes.
Clary shrugged. "Can I go?"
Luke eyed the forest warily. He wasn't sure if it was safe for a four-year-old girl to venture off alone there, even if she did stick to the path.
He waved to catch the girl's mother's attention and gestured at Clary before pointing at the forest.
Is Jace there? Jocelyn mouthed back. Being friends since they were kids, they had perfected the art at these silent conversations.
Luke nodded.
Jocelyn nodded in return and returned to her interrupted conversation with Celine.
Clary smiled triumphantly upon seeing Luke's expression.
"Be safe okay? Follow the marked path and don't ever stray off it," he told her sternly.
She nodded solemly and drew a cross across her heart.
Satisfied with her answer, Luke kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Off you go then."
With that, Clary half skipped and half ran into the woods after Jace.
"Jace! Where are you?" she called once she entered the woods. There was no sign of the boys anywhere.
Taking a deep breath, she ventured along the path alone.
T.F.S*
It took her almost ten minutes, but Clary finally found them having a bite at one of the benches under a shelter.
"Jace! I thought I said no girlfriends allowed?" she heard the dark-haired boy saying angrily as he pointed at her.
She stopped walking immediately and looked at Jace who had spun around the moment he heard the tinkling bells from the ankle bracelet on her left ankle. She saw him run his fingers through his hair in frustration so she defended him automatically.
"He didn't ask me to come," she said.
The dark-haired boy — Meliorn — sneered at her. "Well too bad for you because we aren't inviting you along."
"Jace doesn't mind me being here," Clary replied, undeterred by Meliorn's tone.
"Really?" The other boy spoke up for the first time since Clary appeared. "Let's ask him, shall we?"
Jace hesitated for a moment before turning away. "Go away, Clary. I don't want you here anymore than my friends do."
Clary's eyes widened in surprise. She had hung around him before when his friends were around, but he'd never asked her to leave or expressed any indication that he didn't want her around. His reaction to her being around him confused her.
The bells on her ankle jingled when she took a step toward him.
Jace stood up suddenly and strode over to her. "Go back, Clary! Stop hanging around me like suffocating drapes!"
She blinked, taken aback by his outburst. She didn't know what suffocating meant, but she understood his first sentence well enough. Tears welled up in her eyes.
Jace doesn't like me anymore.
She bit her lip to hold back her tears, refusing to let Jace see her cry. She spun around without further ado and walked back the way she came.
Even from where he'd been standing, Jace could see the unshed tears in her eyes. Guilt tore at his heart, gnawing at his insides, making him feel even more terrible with each passing second.
Everything inside him screamed at him to run up to her and apologize but he couldn't. His popularity at elementary school was at stake here. He couldn't afford to throw it away for some girl even if she was his best friend.
He clenched his fists and watched her walk away until he couldn't see her silhouette anymore.
T.F.S*
"Is Jace still coming over tonight? He's usually here by now," Jocelyn asked her daughter who was sitting on the couch, a bowl of chocolate ice cream in her hands.
Clary shrugged. "I don't think he's coming."
"Why not?"
Clary shrugged again.
Jocelyn was about to say something but the doorbell interrupted her.
"Jace must be here! I'll let him in," she told her daughter and made to get up from the beanbag she was sitting on but Clary stood up so suddenly that she startled her.
"I'll get it."
She left the bowl of half-eaten ice cream on the coffee table and made her way to the door. She stood on tiptoes to reach the door knob and yanked as hard as she could, stumbling a little when the door opened.
Jace stood anxiously on her front porch step with an overnight bag slung casually over his shoulder.
"What are you doing here?" she asked as she folded her arms across her chest.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I came to stay for the night like I always do after these family outings we have," he shrugged nonchalantly.
"Well, you're not welcome anymore, Jace." Clary turned to go back inside her house, struggling to fight her tears again. She was glad that he came back to her because she'd been convinced by his tone and words that he suddenly just didn't like her anymore, but his hurtful words kept replaying over and over in her head. Seeing him in front of her made it seem like he was saying those words to her again.
Jace panicked when she turned her back to him. He couldn't bear to lose his best friend over words that were utter lies. He grabbed her wrist impulsively, spun her around and threw his other hand around her.
"Don't. Don't walk away from me," he murmured.
Clary bit her lip hard to hold back her tears. She didn't hug him back even though she wanted to. "Why not?"
"Because I shouldn't have said those words to you even if they were bullshit."
"Bullshit?" Clary echoed, not understanding that word.
"Aww crap. Forget that word, little Clary. I meant that I didn't mean the words I said to you earlier."
"Really?"
Jace nodded and subsequently realised that she couldn't see him so he replied affirmatively.
Clary sighed and hugged him back.
Jace smiled, stepping back a little to plant a kiss on her forehead. All was forgiven.
T.F.S*
"Why did you say those words to me?" Clary angled her face up so that she could look into his golden eyes.
The two children were lying side by side on Clary's bed, facing each other.
Jace shifted uncomfortably on his side of the bed. He glanced at her quickly before turning over so that his back was flat against the bed and threw one arm over his eyes. His other hand was at his side, his palm flat on the bed.
"Gabriel and Meliorn will kick me out of the popular group if I don't do as they say. They don't like having you around when we play so..." he trailed off.
Popular? Clary was not familiar with that word. "Is being part of that group important?" She boldly used the word 'important' which she had learnt in elementary school a few days prior to the outing that day.
"Yes," Jace answered without any hesitation.
Clary nodded even though he couldn't see her.
She grasped his hand which was lying next to her on the bed tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. "Turn the night light off, Jace," she whispered.
Jace dropped his hand in surprise and turned his head to look at her. "But you never sleep with it off."
"I'm not scared of the dark if you're here with me," she said truthfully.
Jace smiled, though she couldn't see it. He turned the light off and brushed his lips across her forehead gently. "Goodnight, Clary."
T.F.S*
October 17th 1999
"Carousel!" Clary shouted excitedly from the backseat of the car.
Luke and Jocelyn chucked at her excitement as they helped her out of the babyseat.
"Where are we supposed to meet the Herondales again?" Luke asked as he locked his car.
"Celine said that she'll be next to the bumper cars," Jocelyn replied and smiled at the sight of Luke ruffling Clary's hair. Whoever married him would be one hell of a lucky woman, she thought.
"Wanna ride the bumper cars, Clary?" Luke asked as he picked her up and set off toward it.
"Don't give her any ideas," Jocelyn admonished.
"Carousel!" she pointed to somewhere in the near distance.
Luke threw Jocelyn a look before they nodded in agreement. "Carousel it is then!"
Luke brought her over to the ride near the entrance of the amusement park and Jocelyn headed north toward the bumper cars. There wasn't any queue for the ride so he quickly lifted her effortlessly onto one of the unoccupied horses before more people decided to show up.
Halfway through the ride, Jocelyn caught Luke's attention and waved him to go over. Luke glanced at Clary worriedly before walking over to the attendant and telling him to let Clary go on a second ride before dashing over to the bumper cars.
Clary didn't even realise that Luke was gone until the first ride was over. She insisted to get off the horse even though the ride attendant told her that Luke asked her to go on another ride.
"Luke!" she shouted, looking around for the man who was more like a father to her than just the childhood friend of her mother. She wanted to wander off to find him but his words echoed loud and clear in her head. Never move away from where you are when you think you're lost.
She swept her bangs away from her face in annoyance before sitting down on the pavement next to the carousel and played with the bells on her anklet.
"Clary! Clary! Where are you?"
Clary stumbled to her feet immediately when she heard that voice.
"Luke! Over here!" she called back. She craned her neck upward to search for that familiar shade of medium brown hair and sapphire blue eyes.
She ran up to him the moment she saw him. Luke hadn't noticed her at first, but somehow over the mass of people and music, he heard the rhythmic jingles from the ankle bracelet she wore as she ran over to him. Relief flooded his veins instantaneously when he saw the red-haired little girl dashing over to him.
He dropped down on one knee and caught the girl in his arms, crushing her to him in a tight hug.
"You left!" Clary accused him as she wound her arms in a strangle hold around his neck.
"Where did you go? I couldn't find you when I came back."
"I couldn't find you when the ride ended so I sat there," she pointed at the place where she'd been sitting for a while, "and waited for you to come back. Why did you go away?" Clary sniffled as she tried to hold back tears.
"I'm so sorry, Clary," Luke murmured into her ear. "I promise you, I will never leave you while you're on a ride again."
Clary nodded and wiped her nose on the back of her hand.
"Okay, now let's go find your mommy and Jace."
T.F.S*
Clary saw Jace at the entrance of the park as she and Luke neared the bumper cars. She wanted to run over and say 'hi', but she caught sight of his two friends next to him. No, Jace wouldn't like it at all if she went near him now.
Much to Luke and Jocelyn's surprise, Clary didn't run off to Jace the moment Luke set her down on the floor. Instead, she climbed nimbly onto one of the benches nearby and sat down to look other people who were playing.
Thinking that the two friends must have gotten into a fight or something along those lines, Jocelyn decided to create an opportunity for her daughter to talk to him so they could patch things up.
She walked over to Clary and handed her a bottle of sunblock. "Pass this to Jace for me, will you?"
Clary looked apprehensively at the bottle and back at Jace who was still at the amusement park entrance with his friends. At her mother's nod of encouragement, she took the bottle from her and went toward Jace.
"Jace!" she shouted from a distance away.
Jace froze when he heard her voice. Darn, he thought. Didn't I make it clear to her not to hang around me when Merliorn and Gabriel are here?
"Jace? What in the world is your little girlfriend doing here? I thought I made it clear that we don't like her around!" Merliorn yelled in annoyance.
"Words just doesn't do it for him, Meliorn," Gabriel said, cracking his knuckles somewhat menacingly.
"Wait! Gabriel, what are you planning to do?" Jace asked, looking at the little girl anxiously.
"Jace!" Clary said happily when she neared the group of boys.
"This," Gabriel said, striding toward Clary, "is what we do to people who obviously don't take us seriously." He grabbed Clary's shoulders roughly and shoved her so that she stumbled a little.
"Hey!" Clary shouted in indignation. "Why are you —"
Before she could finish her sentence, Meliorn shoved her back seemingly hard. Clary stumbled again and nearly dropped the bottle of sunblock she was holding.
The two boys looked over at Jace expectantly with an expression that clearly said: do it or you're out.
Jace looked at his friends and then at Clary, clearly wracked with indecision. When Clary looked at him with no obvious intent of leaving, he made up his mind.
"Jace, my mommy said —"
At that moment, Jace pushed her aside. Hard.
Totally unprepared for his assault, Clary stumbled, tripped over her own feet and went sprawling onto the rough gravel.
Shock. Surprise. Pain. Tears. Clary blinked at the ground as if wondering why it was so close to her face. After a moment, she shifted herself so that she was in a sitting position instead of lying awkwardly on the ground. Pain flooded her nerves from her palms and knees. She had never expected Jace to do such a thing. Never. Not in a million years. Weren't they supposed to be friends?
Someone near her gasped. Jace, maybe? She recognized his shoes from a foot away, where she sat.
"Clary, I —" he started to say but stopped abruptly when he saw the look on her face. That look clearly said: it's over.
Clary rolled the bottle of sunblock in his direction where it hit his shoe and stopped. Then, she lifted herself off painfully from the ground. Without a backward glance, she limped back the way she came, tears streaming down her face.
She was sobbing quite loudly by the time she reached the bumper cars, which immediately caught Jocelyn and Luke's attention.
"Oh God. Clary, what happened?" Luke ran over immediately, Jocelyn right behind him.
The grazes on her palms and elbows looked a lot worse than the scrapes on her knees.
Clary shook her head and continued to sob.
"Luke, get the car. We're going home," Jocelyn said after a hurried goodbye to Celine and Stephen Herondale.
T.F.S*
After she was patched up by Jocelyn, Clary sat with her knees crossed on the bed and removed the ankle bracelet she wore with clumsy fingers. Seeing it up close brought tears to her eyes again. She shook her head and sniffled. Carefully, she placed it into a small box she had prepared earlier which was already filled with an assortment of items like birthday cards, a tiara and a set of vampire fangs.
She pushed the box aside and lay down on the bed, careful not to put pressure on her palms. She could smell a light jasmine scent from the pillow she lay on. Jace's pillow.
She couldn't stop the tears that formed this time. Wiping them away quickly with the back of her hands, she stripped the pillow of its case and stuffed it into the box with the other items. Then, she did the one thing she never thought she'd do. She slept. Without the night light on.
T.F.S*
October 23rd 1999
"Her name must be bigger than mine! And written in pink frosting!" Little Jace instructed his baker while looking at a plain white cake prepped for decorating.
"Yes, young master," the baker nodded dutifully, holding out his hand to one of the rookie cooks for the piping bag.
Jace nodded back when he was satisfied that the baker knew exactly what he wanted. He strutted off to the multi-purpose room and inspected the handiwork of his decorations team. The ceiling was covered with black and silver helium balloons and the same colored ribbons donned the four walls.
Board games were stacked neatly in one corner of the room, opposite from the long table which had been placed for the snacks. At another corner of the room sat three TVs with 6 video game controllers already set up.
"Perfect!" he exclaimed, smiling widely.
Next, he went out to the backyard and followed the path till he reached somewhere in the woods where there was a small creek and pretty wildflowers grew. A smile appeared on his face when he remembered how Clary's jaw had dropped when he showed her that such a place existed right on the Herondale land, and how she'd smiled when she sat down on one of the large rocks around the creak and plucked a beautiful arrangement of flowers.
"Perfect," he murmured to himself. Everything was just perfect for his big apology to Clary. How could she not forgive him if he apologized to her right there in the meadow of wildflowers after eating his extra birthday cake specially made for the two of them and gave the thirty-inch teddy bear he ordered just for her?
Later that evening during his birthday party, he stood anxiously by the front door and waited for Clary to show. All of his friends including Gabriel and Meliorn arrived promptly between the hours of five and six.
By the time the clock showed six-thirty, he ran out of the house, not caring in the slightest that he wasn't supposed to leave his own party. Luke's car was nowhere in sight and the sky was beginning to darken, putting a damper on his plan to give Clary a big ass apology in the meadow.
No matter how angry she was at him, he'd never thought that she would miss his birthday party. He sat on the front porch step for a while, looking up every now and then at the main street to see if that grey sedan was going to drive by but it never showed.
He sat there for close to an hour, just staring at the streets, replaying the lines he had memorized in his head and shaking his head whenever the memory of how he'd cruelly pushed her to the ground arose. He would have sat there until it was time for the guests to leave but Celine Herondale dragged him into the house by his ear and berated him for his lack of manners.
So that was how Jace found himself sitting at the dining table, alternating between staring at the dinner table and at the clock. She's really not coming, he thought sadly, finally getting up from his seat and moving back to the multi-purpose room.
Two rings of the doorbell sent him running straight toward the living room, his heart filled with hope. Who cared if she turned up late? Better late than never!
He yanked the heavy door open and his hopeful smile immediately widened into an ecstatic grin. "Clary! You're here!"
Clary didn't return his smile. She stood there expressionless as he grinned at her.
Jace's smile faltered. He cleared his throat awkwardly and took her hand. "Come on," he said brightly, not willing to let her less than neutral expression affect his mood. He had a plan to execute!
He led her to the back of the house where the backyard was situated and was about to lead her out to the creak when she shrugged away his hand.
Jace turned around, looking at her in confusion. Though her face still remained expressionless, her eyes were filled with emotion. Jace recognized disappointment and resignation in them.
Clary reached into her backpack and produced two packages, one wrapped beautifully in shiny blue wrapping paper while the other was unwrapped. Jace smiled brightly, thinking that things were were okay between them. He shook the unwrapped box first and smirked when he heard the tinkling of bells inside it.
"Did you get me an ankle bracelet to match the one I gave you for your birthday?" He looked down at her left ankle, expecting to see that familiar chain there but there wasn't anything around it.
"You're not wearing it!" Jace folded his arms across his chest awkwardly while holding the two packages.
Tears appeared in Clary's eyes. "No, I'm not."
"Why?" Jace demanded to know, swallowing uneasily.
Clary remained silent, giving him a 'you know why' look.
"Clary?" he said, his voice unsteady with fear.
"Bye bye, Jace," Clary said sadly before turning around and going back the way she came.
"Clary, wait! We haven't eaten our cake yet!" Jace cried out in desperation, setting the two packages down and made to run off to grab the cake.
"Find someone else to eat it with," she replied without a backward glance.
Jace halted in his tracks. "But we always eat our special birthday cakes together!"
"Not any more," Clary wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
"The meadow" he said abruptly, "I know you love that place. I was going to -"
"It's too late," Clary whispered, turning around to face him once more.
No. No, no, no! Jace tugged at his hair in desperation. The thought of never seeing her smile at him again, of never speaking to him again and never sleeping over with her again brought tears to his eyes. Jace Herondale hadn't cried for years. Not since he started attending elementary school.
"Are we still friends?"
Clary stopped in her tracks once more. "Not any more," she repeated softly, sniffling loudly into the back of her hand.
Not any more. Those words echoed over and over again in his head long after she left. With tears streaming down his face, he picked up the two presents she gave him and brought them up to his room. He sat down on his bed and set aside the unwrapped box. He picked up the other and unwrapped it gingerly, careful not to rip the paper.
The present brought a smile to his face despite his tears and shitty mood. It was perhaps the most thoughtful gift anyone had ever given him, and it came from a four-year-old who knew him better than anyone. Inside the box sat a scrapbook partially filled with memories of the good times he had and a football jersey which his parents had adamantly refused to buy for him.
His fingers lightly touched the photos that were inside the scrapbook, half smiling and half crying at the memories they held.
He reached for the second box Clary had given him and lifted the lid gingerly. His guess was spot on. It contained everything that he had ever given her and also the pillowcase he slept on during sleepovers at her house.
He brought the pillowcase up to his nose and sniffed. It smelled like his jasmine shampoo mixed with another floral scent. Clary must've laid on it, he thought fondly.
He jingled the bells on the ankle bracelet nestled at the base of the box, smiling at the memories they gave him. He replaced the items into the box after a while and took it with him as he descended the stairs with a renewed determination.
He bumped into his baker on the way downstairs.
"Young master, where shall I place the cake?"
"Put it into a cake box and leave it on the dining table," Jace replied without any hesitation. His previous plan might have failed, but there was no way his new plan could.
TFS*
Jace let himself through the front gate of the Frays' house, not caring in the slightest that he was trespassing. On the front porch step, he carefully laid out a cake box, a small bunch of wildflowers in the arms of a giant teddy and the unwrapped box Clary had given to him a few hours before. From the front pocket of his white coat, he produced a small card which he slid under the ribbon securing the cake box.
He gazed up at the window of Clary's room. The light was on. He mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' before reaching up on tiptoes to press the doorbell thrice. Then, he raced like a bat out of hell into the waiting car a few houses down.
Through the tinted windows of the Mercedes, he saw Clary peeking out of the curtains. She disappeared for a moment and the front door swung open. She stared at the various items on the front porch step in confusion. It seemed like forever to Jace before she bent down and took the items in, looking around surreptitiously as if to try and find him. After a while, she shook her head and closed the front door behind her.
Jace stared at the Frays' house for a few moments, and watched as the light in the living room went out, the lights to Clary's bedroom following shortly after. A despondent expression washed over his face when he realized she probably did not even touch the cake. He wondered if the bear, flowers and the box of her stuff were in the trash just like their friendship.
Probably. He hastily blinked his tears away as a fist clenched at his heart. The chauffeur saw his expression in the rear view mirror and contemplated offering him a tissue and maybe make a pit stop for ice cream.
Jace caught Taylor's eye in the rear view mirror and glared at him. "Don't," he said harshly.
"But sir —"
"Don't," Jace repeated, his voice dropping to a whispered plea. "Just drive."
Taylor wanted to protest, but he knew better than to go against Jace's wishes when he was in that kind of mood. Dutifully, he hit the gas and took him out of there.
TFS*
October 24th 1999
"Mommy, can I please stay at home?" Clary pleaded as she tugged at her mother's dress.
"No matter how many times you ask, the answer will not change,"Jocelyn said through her teeth, her patience wearing thin.
"But I don't want to go to Orchard Beach today," Clary murmured to herself.
"How about you bring your sketchbooks there? At least you'll have something to do while the adults talk," Luke suggested as he stepped into Clary's bedroom.
He noticed a gigantic teddy sitting next to her pillows where Jace usually slept when he came over. "Did Jace give this to you?"
Clary nodded, not even looking at what he was gesturing at. Idly, she traced the petals of the wildflowers sitting in an empty jam jar filled with water.
"Luke, I'll start the car. Bring her down when she's dressed," Jocelyn nodded at her daughter before briskly walking down the stairs and presumably out of the door.
"What do you say to collecting seashells and making sandcastles?" Luke said cheerfully in an attempt to cheer the little girl up.
Clary smiled a little. "With moats?"
"A sandcastle isn't a sandcastle unless it has a moat," Luke smiled in return, ruffling her hair affectionately.
"Okay then," Clary replied, relieved that she wouldn't have to talk to Jace at all. She hurriedly pulled on her socks and shoes before grabbing her sketchbooks and following Luke out of the house.
TFS*
Clary walked along the edge of the sea, feeling the cool water sweep over her feet when the tide came in. A particularly large tide swept in, nearly knocking her off her feet. Luke ran toward her in alarm and grabbed ahold of her arm even though she had already regained her balance.
"It's too dangerous to walk along here by yourself. Come on. Let's go get some grub and then we'll make the biggest sandcastle ever okay?"
Clary looked over to where her mother and Mrs. Herondale were setting out a variety of food on a large picnic mat under a parasol. She looked up at Luke. "We're eating with them today?"
Luke nodded. He saw her look over at the Herondale boy, her expression forlorn.
"Why don't we build the sandcastle first? We can eat later," he suggested.
Clary smiled, though it wasn't the bright smile that he'd grown accustomed to.
"Sandcastles it is then!"
A couple of hours later, Luke and Clary had successfully built a sandcastle surrounded by a moat. Sea shells lined the inner circumference of the moat and at the top of the castle was a lollipop used in place of a flag.
"Let's grab a bite. I'm starving from all that work!" Luke rubbed his tummy, earning a giggle from Clary. He held out his hand but she shook her head.
"I want to draw it," she pointed at the sandcastle.
"You can draw it after we eat. Come on," he held out his hand again.
Clary shook her head again and insisted that she draw it before she went to have a snack. Luke tried to persuade her a few more times but she stubbornly insisted that she had to draw the castle first.
In the end, Luke threw his hands up into the air in surrender, chuckling as he did so. "You are one stubborn little girl," he shook his head and left her to do her drawing.
Clary smiled a little as she pulled out a drawing pencil from her small bag and flipped her sketchbook to an empty page. She started from the lollipop, wondering if she should replace it with a flag in the sketch. She decided to stick to what she saw. She was halfway down the topmost floor of the castle when a beach ball suddenly flew over and knocked most of the castle down.
Clary blinked a few times at the bright beach ball before tossing her sketchbook aside and jumping up, shouting angrily in the direction where the ball came from.
"Hey! You —"
She stopped abruptly when she realized it was Jace and friends, Meliorn and Gabriel.
"Aw look at that Meliorn! We ruined Jace's girlfriend's sandcastle!" Gabriel said mockingly.
"Oh what ever will we do?" Meliorn replied, picking up his beach ball and using his foot to disintegrate what remained of the sandcastle.
Clary fought the urge to cry as she turned around to call for Luke and her mother. They were nowhere in sight. Even the Herondale adults weren't anywhere near the picnic mat. She turned back around and saw Jace pulling his friends away, his expression filled with anger.
"What the hell!" she heard him say.
Clary looked at him, wondering if she was imagining things. Why would Jace do that?
The boys argued for a while and Jace's expression changed. Blood drained from his face. Despite everything, Clary was worried. What is going on?
Jace whipped his head around. "Clary run!"
She stared at him in confusion, her feet rooted to the sand. She saw Meliorn and Gabriel reaching into their pockets and pulling something out. Catapults. Understanding dawned upon her.
"Run!" Jace yelled once more, trying to pull his friends away.
Clary didn't need to be told thrice. She picked her sketchbook up and ran as fast as she could. She felt a rock whiz past her ear, narrowly missing her by millimeters. She pushed herself to run even faster, but she was running out of energy. She slowed, barely running. She was about to stop when a hand grabbed hers and dragged her along.
She was astonished, to say the least. She didn't even need to look at the person's face to know whose hand it was. It was the same hand that ruffled her hair. The same hand that patted her to sleep during sleepovers. The same hand that put the ankle bracelet on for her on her birthday.
The two kids ran as fast as they could but they were no match for the boys with catapults. A rock hit Clary squarely on her back and another bounced off the back of Jace's head. Clary saw him wince but he didn't slow.
They stopped running after a while, hiding in under a shelter near the carpark.
"I think... we lost... them," Jace panted, breathing deeply to calm his racing heart.
Clary nodded, slumping down on the floor and dropping her sketchbook next to her.
"Are you okay? Did any of the rocks hit you?" Jace asked breathlessly.
"I'm okay," Clary replied, ignoring the small stab of pain on her back.
"It hit you? Where?" Jace ran his fingers around the back of her head, down her arms and her back until he found the tender spot. "Does it hurt?"
"Not any more," she replied. Jace eyed her with disbelief. He rubbed at the spot gently anyway. "Doesn't your head hurt more?"
Clary reciprocated, reaching up to rub his head where the rock hit him. Jace didn't even wince.
"It doesn't hurt?"
Jace shrugged. "High pain threshold. Or at least that's what my dad says." Upon seeing her confused expression, he rubbed at the little 'v' that formed between her brows until she stopped frowning. "It means that I can endure a lot of pain."
"Why did you save me?" Clary asked after a while as Jace flipped through her sketchbook.
"I didn't want you to get hurt," he told her, his voice softer than she'd ever heard it. He put the sketchbook away and looked into her eyes, dark gold meeting forest green. "I'm so sorry for all the things I did to hurt you." Tears sprang to his eyes as he remembered how he pushed her before and her expression after she fell.
"It's okay," Clary smiled, brushing the tears away from his cheeks.
"Are we still best friends?"
"Always. I have the cake to prove it," she said.
"Cake? You kept it? But I thought..." Jace trailed off. He'd been so sure that she threw it away right after she brought it into her house.
"Of course. We always eat our birthday cakes together!"
Jace felt his heart race again, but he couldn't for the life of him comprehend why. He had the urge to just... He looked at her torn with indecision. Then quickly before he could chicken out, he placed a quick kiss on her lips.
Clary gasped and raised her fingers to her lips. "Why..."
Jace blushed a little and shrugged to appear blaisé. "My folks do it all the time."
"But —"
"Let's go back," he said abruptly, standing up and holding a hand out to her.
"Do you think they're waiting for us?"
"Don't worry. I'll protect you," Jace promised. "I'll always protect you."
TFS*