A/N So this is just a fluffy one-shot. No real romance, just a bit of Clace. Just parabatai love. Awwww... Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. The song that inspired this is "Let her go" by Passenger. Listen to it. Please.
Jace Herondale gripped his stele loosely, drawing a thick black line on Clary's skin. He could feel the flutter of her heartbeat in the wrist that he gripped as he finished the stamina rune. He let go, his own heart pounding, and slid his stele back into his belt.
"Clary-" he started, but she held a finger up to his lips.
"No. For the last time, I am going demon hunting with you."
"I just wish you'd stay at home. There's no need for you to come with me. It's just a few Raum demons."
"Jace Herondale." There was a fierce note in her voice. "I have spent a few years in training, and even Alec agrees that I'll not get myself killed in a fight. I think you owe me this, as my twentieth birthday present."
Jace sighed. "Fine."
Clary grinned. "Let's go."
They took the elevator to the roof of the Institute, where there was a black vampire motorcycle waiting. At Jace's touch, the vehicle purred to life, vibrating with the demon energies that powered it. "Remember when I first took you on this old thing?" asked Jace, turning his head to look at Clary behind him.
She wrapped her arms tighter around his waist, smiling. "And I told you how my mother had forbidden me from ever riding on a motorcycle with a boy."
"Thank the Angel she got over the protective phase, or how would you be able to come with me tonight? On second thought, maybe she should have never changed her mind-"
"Just shut up and drive, Jace," Clary said, leaning forward to kiss him as the demon cycle took flight.
Ichor spattered Clary's tough jacket as she dispatched the last demon with a swift slice of her seraph blade. She wiped the angel knife clean on her sleeve, joining Jace by the motorcycle. "That was fun."
"And you didn't get yourself killed once. Good job."
"Shut up. At least I've never died." Clary climbed on the cycle again, sticking the seraph blade in her weapons belt, her nineteenth birthday gift from Jace. "Let's go."
As they flew over the city, Jace suddenly stiffened. "Dawn."
Clary smiled. She'd been waiting for this. "Fly higher."
Jace looked back at her like she was insane. "WHAT?"
"Fly higher, Jace. Trust me."
Shaking his head, Jace aimed the demon cycle higher, farther and farther above the skyscrapers. Then the first rays of sunlight touched the vehicle.
"BAIL," Clary yelled above the wind and the shrieking of the motorcycle. Jace did as he was told and let go, falling spread-eagled toward the ground.
Clary pulled out her stele. "Give me your arm."
She quickly scrawled a rune on the light skin of Jace's forearm, just a simple design like a pair of wings, and as it took hold, Jace's descent slowed, then stopped. Clary continued to fall until she scrawled the same rune on her own arm, and a feeling of weightlessness overtook her. Jace slowly dropped in the sky until he reached her.
"What was that, Clary?" he asked, wide-eyed.
She smirked at him, then aimed herself downward. She shot toward the ground, wind flowing through her hair and over her face.
"Catch me if you can!" she yelled up at him, and he grinned, shooting toward her like a bullet.
They played tag in the sky as the sun filled the sky, golden rays gilding the world in a new day. Suddenly, Jace's phone rang.
Stopping in midair, Jace's smile faded. He pulled out the iPhone seven and held it to his ear. "Hello?"
Clary stopped next to him, one hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly, Jace paled. "What?" His voice sounded like that of a ghost. He put a hand to his chest. "Oh, no."
Alec's black hair was stark against the white hospital sheets; his breathing was barely detectable. Magnus was red-eyed and glitterless as he sat, holding his boyfriend's hand, next to the bed.
Jace rushed into the room, grief and confusion written all over his face. He seemed unsure what to do. "What happened?" he demanded of Magnus, vaguely waving his hands.
"He got stabbed by some mundie. Some dark-alley bastard put a knife between his ribs," the warlock replied. "They just finished sewing him up."
"Why can't you fix him?" Jace asked.
"The Clave had me interrogating Downworlders this morning. Vamps. Apparently there's been a free-for-all in Hoboken. A few mundies died. But it took all my magic out of me. Even I need to rest sometimes."
Jace knelt by Alec's side. Just then, the older boy's eyes fluttered. "Jace?"
"It's me, Alec." Clary had only heard that tenderness in his voice once before, when he was mourning the loss of Max, his younger Lightwood brother. "It's me."
"Don't leave me, Jace," Alex whispered, his eyelids falling closed. The golden-haired boy bent his head and wept, pure tears of love and relief falling on his parabatai's hand.
"I won't, Alec. I promise. I love you."
I love you, my brother, forever.
A/N I hope that made you happy. You got some Clace fluff, and then you got some heartfelt grief and relief and love, and yaaaay! I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!