City of Wandering Shadows

by alyssss

(SPOILERS- TMI & TID)The Battle at the Seventh Site takes a turn in what can only be described as a downhill direction. Simon vanishes, Clary is dying and with Sebastian missing and the connection still untouched, how will Jace fare? (Set just after the events of City of Lost Souls, moving in an alternate direction but overlapping with the possible events of City of Heavenly Fire)

1. Prologue

Jace followed Clary through the crowd as she dodged demonised Shadowhunters and ducked the werewolves flying overhead. Blades flashed around her as she ran towards her shining beacon of hope: Simon running through the battle with a gleaming gold sword slung across his shoulders. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sebastian curse and start to sprint away from the battle as his last line of defence began to fall apart... Panting, her hair sticking to the back of her neck, sodden with sweat, she reached Simon and shouted out to him over the sound of battle, shoving her arm forward to touch his shoulder. "Give me the sword!"

He swung around, wide-eyed, with the sword raised in his outstretched arms. Time slowed down as a woman appeared from nowhere, her eyes wide with the frenzy of battle. She screamed and swung her arm towards Clary, a black blade clutched in her bony, wrinkled hand. Pain rippled up Clary's body and she fell forwards, her vision already beginning to blur at the edges as the red dress became sodden and stained almost black in the moonlight. Jace ran up behind her and gripped her shoulders with his hands, holding her upright with firm fingers as she looked up at Simon with darkening vision, hot tears already streaming down her cheeks. Amatis raised the knife again and the moonlight glinted on the blade as she grinned down at Clary, her eyes empty and black.

Simon stared Jace straight in the eyes, holding his gaze with a single unspoken request. Save her. He looked at her with wide, sorry eyes, then turned his back on them and vanished back into the thick of the battle, the Angel sword slung over his shoulder.
Clary's body flopped sideways, the familiar burn of demon poison flowing through her veins. It clouded her vision, and the world spun around her as her head fell against the damp grass of the plain. She watched from the ground as Jace lurched forwards, putting himself between Amatis and Clary, and raised his fists. Before Jace could touch Amatis, Isabelle seemed to fall from the sky, screaming. With one calculated movement, she flicked her whip around Amatis' neck and pulled, separating her head from her body. The head fell to the ground with a thud, her eyes still open, her mouth wide in a grotesque grin.

Jace leaned down, putting his face over Clary's, his golden hair glinting in the moonlight as he cradled her face with a sticky hand. His mouth moved silently as he shouted down at her to stay awake, but she was already too far gone, her eyes drifting shut. The demon poison invaded her brain with foggy tendrils, violating her consciousness and dragging her down into the darkness.