Parabatai
Summary: Isabelle asks Clary to be her parabatai.
Disclaimer: I don't own TMI or any of its characters, they belong to Cassandra Clare.
…
Clary sat against a wall, sweaty and tired as she watched Alec and Jace spar in the training room. Somehow, the two seemed to still have an incredible amount of energy left, though they had been helping her train for hours.
The two were simulating a rogue vampire attack, which in Clary's opinion was unnecessary, hadn't they gone through the actual thing enough to not need a simulation? She shook her head, exasperated with the thought. However, she couldn't help but be fascinated with how flawlessly in sync the two were. Without speaking, Alec crouched down, Jace springing off of his parabatai and staking the "vampire" through the heart. She watched Alec lift himself off the ground and doing some complicated spins and flips, gracefully get his bow and arrow. What they were doing now, she had no idea, but Jace was once again in sync with Alec, slashing and stabbing with his blade.
The clunking of boots let her know she was being joined by someone else, and it wasn't hard to guess just by looking at the 8-inch heels it was Isabelle, who had her whip curled around her arm and leaned against the wall beside Clary.
Isabelle also had a water bottle which she brought to her lips, watching her brothers with slight disdain, "Ugh. Now they're just showing off."
Clary laughed, "Why would they be doing that."
Isabelle gave her a strange looked, twisting the top back on to her water, "How long have you been dating Jace again?"
Clary smiled, "Exactly, what could he possibly be showing off about to me, a Shadowhunter in training?"
Isabelle just rolled her eyes, and Clary turned back to watch the two parabatai, who were now laughing hysterically, despite the glistening sweat that was on both of them. And they were still in some stupid simulated fight.
"That is what he's showing off about." Isabelle declared after a few minutes.
Clary stared at the tall girl, confusion darkening her gaze, and her brows furrowing.
"What?"
"How perfectly in sync they are." She replied.
"It is pretty amazing, I mean I know that's what we're supposed to be capable of doing, but I don't get how they just… do that." Clary explained, not quite able to properly word how fascination she found Jace and Alec fighting together.
Isabelle shrugged, "It's something about parabatai, they have this odd . . . connection, it's why the rune is just above their heart."
Clary raised her brow, she didn't know much about the parabatai or the fact the rune was just above their hearts, they had spent so much time working of Clary's unique power of creating runes, that she hadn't much time for learning about already establishes ones.
"So, they can like, read each other's minds?"
Isabelle snorted, "No, but it's like this strange… feeing they get, I guess. Alec tried to explain it to me once, it's how he'd like just know Jace was in trouble. But, I didn't really get it?"
"You mean you don't know?"
This seemed to be the wrong thing to say, because Isabelle shot her a venomous glare.
"No, I don't have a parabatai now do I?"
Clary flushed, "I just thought… it was something you learned about. Sorry."
Isabelle seemed to get over it quickly and her eyes were back on Alec and Jace who seemed to be taking a small break. They knew it was just a break because Jace wasn't making a beeline for Clary, as he usually did after a strenuous workout. He did this despite protests of how sweaty or gross he was. Isabelle was busy chuckling as she watched two get back to sparring, this time each other. Surprisingly, at least to Clary, their fighting seemed to be quite even, they just knew each other too well, easily anticipating their next move, seemingly without thought.
"You should have seen them before you came, it was like this every day, and when I'd complain, they'd just try to kick me out or say I didn't understand because I didn't have a parabatai and I was just 'throwing off their mojo' in Jace's words."
Clary laughed at the image, for some reason picturing a younger Jace arguing with a younger Isabelle who probably still had that darn whip, and Alec just trying to figure out what the heck a mojo was.
"Better get comfortable," Isabelle continued, "since Jace has been spending most of his time with you and Alec with Magnus, this is bound to be some bromantical reunion. They honestly used to just spar and simulate random, highly unlikely situations for hours at a time, conveniently at times when I was cooking them a delicious meal actually."
Clary smiled, watching the two brothers, seemingly have the time of their lives laughing and "killing" things. Her attention quickly turned to Isabelle, who in a rare show of vulnerability, was gnawing at her lower lip and seemed to be thinking hard about something.
"Are you alright?" Clary whispered, sure Izzy didn't want this to be said to loud for her brothers to hear.
Isabelle looked up at the red head, still worrying her lower lip. This seemed a habit that Alec was more prone to, or even Jace when he had done something stupid and didn't want Clary to know. Isabelle, however, rarely showed any signs of nervousness.
"It's just . . . my eighteenth birthday is in two months, and if you haven't got a parabatai by that time then you're SOL and this is a huge deal for Shadowhunters and … "
Clary wasn't following and this annoyed Isabelle to no end. She was no longer gnawing on her lip, and instead punched Clary in the shoulder, not as hard as she could but it still hurt.
"Ouch! What was that for?"
"Damnit Clary, will you take the parabatai oath with me?"
Clary was rubbing her arm at the time, but her attention snapped up to Isabelle. It was hard to believe how in just a little over a year the two had become quite close, hanging out quite often as Clary was dating her brother and Izzy was dating Clary's best friend. She actually found this incredibly endearing, considering there were still times she wasn't sure Isabelle wasn't plotting her death (but Jace said she made everyone feel that way occasionally).
"Of course I will Izzy." Clary answered.
Isabelle smiled, looking nearly giddy, "Well… good then. We'll have to contact the Clave and make all the necessary arrangements. So I'll get to that, and you'll need to train more, because to be honest, you're really behind, which is okay since you're relatively new to this but parabatai oath or not, I will leave you behind if you do something too stupid. Understand?"
Clary laughed and nodded, knowing these were actually terms of endearments in Isabelle's mind.
"Fantastic, so I'm off to go do all the necessary phone calls and such." She was getting up from her spot beside Clary and about out the door, when she turned to her friend-soon-to-be-parabatai.
"Thanks, Clary, this means a lot to me."
Isabelle smiled, her teeth perfectly straight and white as she left, and Clary couldn't help but return it, feeling more like a Shadowhunter than ever.
Jace and Alec, who had stopped their banter/fighting had watched the scene unfold.
"Clary, dear girlfriend, you unfortunately may have just signed your death warrant with Izzy as your parabatai." Jace said, and Alec burst out laughing; Clary responded with a "Hmph" but still smiled, happy to know her parabatai was someone part of what she considered her closest confidants.
….
Sorry if they're slightly OOC, I tried to my best but I'm not good at Clary/Isabelle. I'm not sure about all the parabatai facts (like where the rune goes, or if eighteen is the cut off age) but I wanted to explore their friendship and thought them becoming parabatai would be cool, since we've only seen male parabatai thus far.
